4 ms·
To understand these results you may need to know that dopamine is not the "reward" signal it was once characterised as. Instead it is closer to a "motivation" s
by iandanforth 11y ago
To understand these results you may need to know that dopamine is not the "reward" signal it was once characterised as. Instead it is closer to a "motivation" signal. Without it you do nothing, with lots of it you are highly motivated to just about anything.
- derefr 11y agoI would argue that, while people can redirect the stimulation from dopaminergics to get "motivated to [do] just about anything", the usual effects when the drug-user sets no specific goals are actually rather more specific. Almost everyone who takes weaker amphetamines like Adderall ends up developing a cleaning compulsion; almost everyone who takes meth ends up developing a compulsion to pick at their own skin. The link I've seen suggested is that these are instinctual "foraging/grooming" behaviors, all using the same neural hardware related to finding small imperfections/differences in a scene.
- _98fj 11y agoMy favorite way of thinking about it is regulating expectation or giving an emotional reason to do something. ("I feel like I should do this")