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guest_
· 4 years ago
· FIRST
Not exactly true. It isn’t so much that you enjoy dopamine as it is that dopamine creates reinforcement of stimulus and response. Likewise- Serotonin isn’t inherently a pleasure chemical per se- but through its action and the brains responses to uptake can cause feelings of happiness. Alone it primarily serves to regenerate brain cells and act as a transmitter. Sort of like how a gaming device is just a device and not very fun without a game. Having no serotonin is like having a game but nothing to use to play it.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
But Oxytocin is a hormone that can manage stress and is associated with forming emotional bonds, endorphins are hormones that can elevate mood and cause feelings of happiness. Most of these hormones work together- causing the production of others or working in balance with others to provide pleasant sensations, deal with stress and anxiety, and generally allowing the body and or mind to properly function.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
But really- it isn’t even that you enjoy these things- that’s not quite how the brain works, or at least not in line with the most current understanding of how the brain works. We often liken computers and brains- but machines process information- the modern model of the human brain isn’t a processor. We form physical pathways based on stimulus and response, those pathways dictate the input and output of a human based on their configurations. Each new experience can change those pathways and this change the IO for the same stimulus as new pathways form to adapt to new information. What you perceive as happiness isn’t exactly that- so it isn’t that you only enjoy serotonin or dopamine- it’s that the concept of enjoyment is derived from the activities of various hormones and neurotransmitters among other things,
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guest_
· 4 years ago
and the release and mix of those things is based in part on the structures of our brains- the past experiences that have formed connections that condition us to seek certain IO cycles.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
In general- patterns are the norm as seeking what we know is successful has an evolutionary and common sense basis- the known is known and thus more reliable. So for instance- most people need to be conditioned to seek the new or different through positive reinforcement. Once you’ve established a pattern of being exposed to different things and getting good results- you will most likely form pathways that condition you to that. Conversely- those who have negative experiences when trying the new will form pathways that make them averse to that outside their norm. Through successive repetitions neural connections are formed that create bias in the brain towards certain things.
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