The latest research shows that even the taste of beer is sufficient to activate the brain‘s pleasure circuits.
dopamine
Are You Happy? You Might Have Hypocretin to Thank
Move over dopamine, there’s a new “pleasure” molecule that could broaden our understanding of the chemistry of joy, laughter, addiction and even anger.
How Manti Te’o Could Have Fallen in Love with Someone He Never Met
The brain chemistry and psychology behind falling in love with an online fiction.
Could A Dopamine Gene Be the Answer to a Longer Life?
A gene linked to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and addiction might also help you live to be 100.
Naomi Wolf’s Vagina Aside, What Neuroscience Really Says About Female Desire
The controversy surrounding journalist Naomi Wolf’s new book, Vagina: A Cultural History — an exploration of the brain-vagina connection — has brought fresh attention to the nature and neuroscience of female sexuality. …
Your Drive to Compete May Come Down to Dopamine
Are you the kind of person who is always “on,” constantly driven to achieve? Or are you more of a slacker type, less motivated by the promise of material reward?
How the Brain Chooses: Secrets From Parkinson’s Disease
How do you make a tough choice? For most people, the answer is to pause and deliberate, as the brain puts the brakes on its initial impulses. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) used to treat Parkinson’s disease, however, can interfere …
Q&A: How Pleasure Works
How does the brain create the experience of joy and desire? That’s the subject of David Linden’s new book, The Compass of Pleasure. A professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Linden studies …
Ecstasy as Therapy: Have Some of its Negative Effects Been Overblown?
Although ecstasy (MDMA) — a drug best known for enhancing feelings of empathy and love — has been demonized by parents and politicians, researchers have been quietly studying its potentially therapeutic effects, and they’ve …
Never Mind the Tea Party. Can a ‘Liberal Gene’ Make You a Party Animal?
Politics aren’t just a matter of personal choice or parental influence — they’re something you’re born with.