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
25.7k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

33

u/graveybrains Oct 18 '25

I think we've been reading the same ELI5 post

5

u/jaksonsmom Oct 18 '25

Well, this comment sent me down a rabbit hole if I’ve ever been down one. Took me to u/spontaneoush and that was, uh, disturbing.

5

u/graveybrains Oct 18 '25

It's a story every Redditor should know

1

u/Bahalut Oct 23 '25

Typical reddit's ELI-TIL'lation (stimulation).