Today's 60 Second Science Podcast is brought to you by The Itchy and Scratchy Show, of course:
Scratching Brings Mental Satisfaction
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Results tagged “pleasurecenters” from 60 Second Science
Scratching Brings Mental Satisfaction [podcast]
Aggression feels as good as sex, drugs, and rock and roll
Everyone gets a rise out of watching the 5 foot 8 receiver get jacked up by the 250 pound linebacker. Here's why 16 million viewers of Sunday Night football can't help but love watching the big hits.
The brain processes aggression as a reward, similar to the way it reacts to sex, food and drugs, according to new research.
In a series of experiments on mice, scientists discovered that mice will literally push the button willingly to introduce more aggression into their lives. Behaving just as they would for the good stuff.
"Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food,” says Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University. “We have found that the ‘reward pathway’ in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved.”
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Price Can Make Wine Taste Better [podcast]
Today's 60 Second Science Podcast is brought to you by Orson Welles for Paul Masson:
Price Can Make Wine Taste Better
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The neuroeconomics of a good buzz
Focus groups just got a lot more fun: A recent fMRI study shows that thinking about the price of wine can actually enhance the amount of pleasure one receives from drinking said wine. If someone gives you boxed Franzia and tells you it cost $100 a glass, you just might enjoy it more.
In what sounds like the best experiment ever, researchers had test subjects lie down in fMRI scanners while computerized tubes pumped various cabernets to their lips. They told the patients they were being served five different wines, but in truth only three wines were given, with two wines being given again but described as having a higher price. The fMRI then lit up to show increased blood flow to any part of the brain.
Both subjective reports and blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity in the pleasure centers of the brain increased positively when test subjects were told they were drinking a more expensive wine.
Any choice is good choice [podcast]
Today's 60 Second Psych podcast is brought to you by free will:
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