in pursuit of pleasure in the rat race

Neuroscientist Kent Berridge is interested in the theory of pleasure.

ignore-the-rat 

He’d found that he could watch rats’ facial expressions to judge their reactions to certain tastes. Believe it or not, rats actually look pleased when given sweet things to taste, and produce the rat equivalent of a disgusted look in response to bitterness. 

In another study of pleasure, different regions of a monkey’s brain were stimulated to evoke penile erection and ejaculation. According to the authors of this study, the electrically produced erection did not differ from a normal erection.

electric-plaster

But what of comparable data for humans? A male psychiatric patient had electrodes inserted into his brain for “therapeutic” purposes. When his brain was electrically stimulated, he reported experiencing sexual arousal and pleasure. So much pleasure that he stimulated himself as often as 1,500 times an hour. Not surprisingly, he begged for a few more jolts just before the apparatus was put away. 

gimcrackery

image sent to me by tobymarx

Published in: on February 12, 2009 at 6:56 am  Comments (25)  

The URI to TrackBack this entry is: https://nursemyra.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/in-pursuit-of-pleasure-in-the-rat-race/trackback/

RSS feed for comments on this post.

25 CommentsLeave a comment

  1. On February 12, 2009 at 8:08 am Daddy Papersurfer said:

    Nice image – are the cymbals on the head symbolic?

    Reply
  2. On February 12, 2009 at 8:18 am nursemyra said:

    all our patients wear cymbals for ten minutes a day. It stops their brains from overheating 🙂

    Reply
  3. On February 12, 2009 at 8:28 am Alex L. said:

    ‘different regions of a monkey’s brain were stimulated to evoke penile erection and ejaculation. ‘

    In the name of science of course.

    Reply
  4. On February 12, 2009 at 8:44 am Abigail said:

    1500 times? I think he’d have turned into a light bulb by then.

    Reply
  5. On February 12, 2009 at 1:39 pm sledpress said:

    Larry Niven wrote a marvelous short story about “current addicts” some time in the 70s, “Death by Ecstasy.” It being the 70s, one of the plot points was that someone had created a cordless method of delivering the electric jolt! But it was a good story.

    Sledpress, I think you must read as many books as I do. Have you checked out the list on my sidebar?

    Reply
  6. On February 12, 2009 at 2:07 pm Kurt said:

    Wow – that’s amazing. The most I ever stimulated myself in an hour was 1300 times.

    Reply
  7. On February 12, 2009 at 3:16 pm tobymarx said:

    Coming soon: the erectile dysfunction helmet.

    Reply
  8. On February 12, 2009 at 4:49 pm daisyfae said:

    wow… maybe the US can re-open Abu Ghraib prison as a pleasure resort. swords into plowshares and all that rot.

    Reply
  9. On February 12, 2009 at 5:07 pm UncleKeith said:

    I enjoy having my electrode stimulated, and I am available for study.

    Reply
  10. On February 12, 2009 at 8:25 pm anaglyph said:

    How do you tell if a rat ‘looks’ pleased? Rats always look the same to me: ratty.

    Reply
  11. On February 12, 2009 at 8:37 pm kyknoord said:

    Brings a whole new meaning to, “you turn me on”, doesn’t it?

    Reply
  12. On February 12, 2009 at 8:53 pm nursemyra said:

    Now I’ll have that song in my head all day.

    Reply
  13. On February 12, 2009 at 9:09 pm Louisa said:

    I’m surprised he let them take it away from him if he was enjoying it so much.

    Reply
  14. On February 12, 2009 at 9:14 pm nursemyra said:

    haha…. poor guy was a psychiatric patient in a hospital. you think the staff “let” him do anything?

    of course, we’re different at the Gimcrack 🙂

    Reply
  15. On February 12, 2009 at 11:29 pm renalfailure said:

    That electrical outlet over there is lookin’ mighty sexy…

    Reply
  16. On February 13, 2009 at 1:07 am Mr A D Fanton said:

    Those damned monkeys get all the fun.

    As for stimulating one’s self 1500 times an hour…well, I’m sure Lord Likely would have had something to say on the matter, if only he wasn’t so completely and utterly dead. *Sniff*

    you killed off Lord Likely? oh my….. I’ll be right over to see if I can do cpr

    Reply
  17. On February 13, 2009 at 2:57 am Pure Evyl said:

    1500 times an hour? That’s just plain scary.

    Reply
  18. On February 13, 2009 at 3:03 am Kym said:

    Um, I hate to inject a note of bleak reality but wouldn’t he need bandages for the blisters on his hands and other more sensitive places?

    Reply
  19. On February 13, 2009 at 6:28 am nursemyra said:

    reality is just a figment of our imagination Kym 🙂

    Reply
  20. On February 13, 2009 at 6:47 am Somnambulist said:

    I like the electric battery plasters. Can you buy them in bulk?

    Reply
  21. On February 13, 2009 at 7:11 am nursemyra said:

    can you afford the extra postage? It’s already 3c…

    Reply
  22. On February 13, 2009 at 7:42 am Dolce said:

    Hook me up!

    Reply
  23. On February 13, 2009 at 3:08 pm Seraphine said:

    i have a great fear of electricity. i’ll never voluntatily plug myself in or expose my body parts to “probes” or electrical “plasters.” frankly, wine and soft music work just as well, without all the hurry. or worry.

    Reply
  24. On February 13, 2009 at 5:54 pm nursemyra said:

    I think you’re in the majority there Sera

    Reply
  25. On February 14, 2009 at 9:01 pm 70steen said:

    I bet he was well miffed when they tool away his ‘toy’?

    Reply

Leave a reply to nursemyra Cancel reply