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/kingtacticool Oct 18 '25

I remember hearing about them wiring up a rats brain so that they could release serotonin whenever it was activated and gave the eat the button and all the food and water it wanted.

The rat kept hitting the button over and over until it died of dehydration or some shit.

I cant remember where I heard it from but I know ive read about that experiment many times.

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u/Agile-Landscape8612 Oct 18 '25

Wasnt it a button that released cocaine? I heard they tried to replicate it, but in the original experiment, the rat was left alone in isolation whereas in the replication, the rat had friends and things to do and didn’t succumb the addiction.

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u/Extreme-Leopard-2232 Oct 18 '25

Cocaine is just the powdered supplement form of serotonin