From: gts (gts@optexinc.com)
Date: Wed Aug 07 2002 - 15:41:54 MDT
Rafal,
> gts wrote:
>
>
> It's my contention here that socially constructive behaviors are among the
> behaviors that stimulate the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens
of
> homo sapiens.
>
> ### Actually, the areas recently implicated in the behaviors you mentioned
> are mainly the prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. There
is
> no unique "reward center" in the human brain but rather a complex web of
> structures involved in the management of many not directly related
> behaviors. This is why the pleasure of drinking hot chocolate with
cinnamon
> is qualitatively different from the pleasure of understanding an abstruse
> and profound scientific advancement.
Thanks for your comments. However this is a subject about which I happen to
be fairly well-informed. It is true that many parts of the brain are
involved in the reward circuitry, and true also that the circuitry varies
with the category of reward, but research shows the nucleus accumbens to be
the final node in the circuitry and the place from which the actual
experience of pleasure arises. The reward experience is best considered as a
cascade of neurological events that culminates in a pleasurable release of
dopamine in the nucleus accumbens.
With respect to social reward, someone here posted a link to the following
article:(http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,53945,00.html)
You'll find the following statement in the article:
"And every time the two cooperated, the volunteer in the scanner showed
activity in her brain's reward circuit: the nucleus accumbens, the caudate
nucleus, ventromedial frontal/orbitofrontal cortex and rostral anterior
cingulate cortex."
As you can see, the nucleus accumbens was found to be a part of the reward
circuitry associated with constructive social behavior (cooperation). This
is consistent with my statement above to which you objected.
To my knowledge the nucleus accumbens is the final node in the circuitry for
any category of reward. If you have reason to believe otherwise then I would
appreciate references.
-gts
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