To decipher the brain circuits that underlie pleasure, neuroscientists often have to assess liking and disliking in nonverbal creatures. They do it by monitoring facial expressions and head and arm movements, such as those depicted in the video here. Licking the lips, for instance, indicates a food tasted delicious to in infant, whereas turning the head from side to side indicates “yuk.” In the video, the term “hedonic reactions” refers to pleasure. Read about new insights into the neurobiology of pleasure in “The Joyful Mind”—by Morten L. Kringelbach, of the University of Oxford, and Kent C. Berridge, of the University of Michigan—in the August 2012 issue of Scientific American.

1 Comments

1. 1. jgrosay 04:32 PM 7/30/12

   A methodical doubt: can a baby feel genital pleasure when, for example, he or she gets washing or bathing or when somebody pulls his foreskin or rubs his or external genital organs? Can this have influence in the personality of this baby when he/she grows older? Perhaps a way to jump over the oedipal relationships and problems would be the good old institution of paid breastfeeding, and of having a domestic or a neighbor bathing your baby.

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