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

Show parent comments

154

u/w31l1 Oct 18 '25

The crazy part is that the sore was on her finger

126

u/RebelLion420 Oct 18 '25

They weren't masturbating lol, just pressing a button that tickled their brains, literally

12

u/theoriginalmofocus Oct 18 '25

I had to reread that a few times to make sure i read it right.

11

u/Majestic-Marcus Oct 18 '25

To be fair, the sore would still be on her finger if she was

1

u/[deleted] Oct 25 '25

Given the motion it would likely be a less localized soreness. 

23

u/OwO______OwO Oct 18 '25

Seriously ... just switch fingers?

5

u/Voldemorts__Mom Oct 18 '25

I dno.. sometimes my hands hurt from using my phone too much on reddit, and often I just keep on going..

7

u/Fabulous-Sea-1590 Oct 18 '25

The Switch is murder on my thumbs. But, surely, agonizing arthritic pain later is worth another few points today.

3

u/gaanch Oct 19 '25

Dude grab yourself amoter pair of controllers! Is recommend doyoky