Kringelbach Morten L, Berridge Kent C
Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Discov Med. 2010 Jun;9(49):579-87.
Over fifty years ago the discovery that rats would work to electrically stimulate their brains suggested the intriguing possibility that bliss could be achieved through the use of 'pleasure electrodes' implanted deep within the brain. Subsequent research has failed to bring about this brave new world of boundless pleasure, but more recent findings have started to throw new light on the intriguing links between brain mechanisms of pleasure and happiness. We discuss these findings of the underlying neural mechanisms and functional neuroanatomy of pleasure in the brain. In particular we address how they may come to shed light on our understanding of the brain basis of happiness. Beyond sensory pleasures, we examine how higher pleasures may be related to the brain's default networks, especially in orchestrating cognitive aspects of the meaningfulness important to happiness. We also address how understanding of the hedonic brain might help alleviate the suffering caused by the lack of pleasure, anhedonia, which is a central feature of affective disorders such as depression and chronic pain.
五十多年前，一项发现表明，大鼠会通过电击来刺激自己的大脑，这暗示了一种引人入胜的可能性：通过植入大脑深处的“愉悦电极”或许能够获得极乐体验。后续研究未能创造出这个充满无尽愉悦的美好新世界，但最近的研究结果已开始为愉悦与幸福的大脑机制之间那些引人入胜的联系带来新的启示。我们将探讨大脑中愉悦的潜在神经机制及功能神经解剖学方面的这些研究结果。特别是，我们将阐述它们如何能够帮助我们理解幸福的大脑基础。除了感官愉悦之外，我们还将研究更高层次的愉悦如何与大脑的默认网络相关联，尤其是在协调对幸福至关重要的意义认知方面。我们还将探讨对享乐大脑的理解如何有助于减轻因缺乏愉悦（快感缺失）所导致的痛苦，而快感缺失是抑郁症和慢性疼痛等情感障碍的一个核心特征。
