Pleasure systems in the brain

By Kent C. Berridge, Morten L. Kringelbach. Neuron, 2015

1,373 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Pleasure is mediated by well-developed mesocorticolimbic circuitry, and serves adaptive functions. In affective disorders anhedonia (lack of pleasure) or dysphoria (negative affect) can result from breakdowns of that hedonic system. Human neuroimaging studies indicate that surprisingly similar circuitry is activated by quite diverse pleasures, suggesting a common neural currency shared by all. Wanting for rewards is generated by a large and distributed brain system. Liking, or pleasure itself, is generated by a smaller set of hedonic hotspots within limbic circuitry. Those hotspots also can be embedded in broader anatomical patterns of valence organization, such as in a keyboard pattern of nucleus accumbens generators for desire versus dread. In contrast, some of the best known textbook candidates for pleasure generators, including classic pleasure electrodes and the mesolimbic dopamine system, may not generate pleasure after all. These emerging insights into brain pleasure mechanisms may eventually facilitate better treatments for affective disorders.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/05cdf05bc2205ca2545279bbab1f9d2cb7522bcb

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

1. Kent C. Berridge
2. Terry E. Robinson
3. Richard P. Bagozzi
4. Steven D. Shaw
5. Jaak Panksepp
6. Joseph E LeDoux
7. Peter S. Dayan
8. Morten L. Kringelbach

In Cognitive Neuroscience

1. Kent C. Berridge
2. Terry E. Robinson
3. Richard P. Bagozzi
4. Steven D. Shaw
5. Jaak Panksepp
6. Joseph E LeDoux
7. Morten L. Kringelbach
8. Peter S. Dayan

Citations in the corpus

• Liking, Wanting and the Incentive-Sensitization Theory of Addiction (2016, background): “‘Wanting’ is mediated by a robust brain system including dopamine projections (left, dark gray), whereas ‘liking’ is mediated by a restricted brain system of small hedonic hotspots (white) (described in Berridge & Kringelbach, 2015).”
• The neuropsychology of consumer behavior and marketing (2018, background): “Hedonic responses occur in the form of “sensory pleasures as well as many higher types of pleasure (e.g., cognitive, social, aesthetic, and moral)” (Berridge & Kringelbach, 2015, p. 646).”