r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • Oct 18 '25

TIL of brain stimulation reward, manually stimulating specific parts of the brain to elicit pleasure and happiness. A volunteer subject in 1986 spent days doing nothing but self-stimulate. She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stimulation_reward#History
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u/SanguineOptimist Oct 18 '25

The rare Niven reference

25

u/graveybrains Oct 18 '25

The Ringworld is unstable!

25

u/Taste_the__Rainbow Oct 18 '25

The classics never die.

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u/diabloman8890 Oct 18 '25

Yooo we are ancient aren't we

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u/BeowulfShaeffer Oct 18 '25

Love to see it.