Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Brain's 'reward' center responds to bad experiences too

2011-02-23

Scientists have found that the so-called reward center not only responds to good experiences but also to bad ones.

The finding may help explain the 'thrill' of thrill-seeking behavior or maybe just the thrill of surviving it, according to scientists at Georgia Health Sciences University and East China Normal University.

Eating chocolate or falling off a building-or just the thought of either-can evoke production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that can make the heart race and motivate behavior, said Joe Z. Tsien, Co-Director of GHSU's Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute.

Scientists looked at dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area of the mouse brain, widely studied for its role in reward-related motivation or drug addiction.

Read the full article here.

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