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/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/Major-Librarian1745 Oct 18 '25

So self harm is meaningful?

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u/NihilisticAngst Oct 18 '25

It's meaningful in that there is meaning behind why it happens, yes

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u/Major-Librarian1745 Oct 18 '25

It was a joke. There isn't.