Why do we crave crazy?

Most mammals, including humans, experience extreme feelings of desire - possibly because of food, sex or other things - followed by a feeling of contentment and happiness. that desire is satisfied.

But now scientists find that, thanks to the microchips in the brain, we are often in a sense of craving rather than being met.

(Photo: msnbcmedia2) According to a new study in the Journal of Neuroscience , desires and interests are two separate sensations in the brain controlled by different circuits. When both impulses appear at the same time, its impact on the brain will be very strong.

But in mammals, the brain seems to have less mechanism for satisfaction than desire.

" The results of our research show that we are all more prone to desire than to really enjoy, at least in some cases ," said Kent Berridge, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, USA. to speak.

Disagreements between want and like will lead to addiction to drugs, sex, food, gambling and more. Some people are prone to experiencing this imbalance.

In the study, Berridge and his colleague Kyle Smith used painless injection techniques to inject opioid granules into the pleasure point in the rat's brain. The drug will cause the mice to eat 3 times the amount of normal food while eating twice as much.

Scientists measure the " liking " level of rats by studying facial expressions and behaviors when they eat, including licking lips and licking their nails.

The researchers went on to turn off the pleasure circuit in mice by injecting opioid suppressants in the other brain region of the mouse. The mice still want to eat a lot but there is no sign of interest.

Finally, the scientists used a technique called Fos mapping to display areas of the brain that work based on color changes caused by proteins that affect certain nerve circuits. This experiment shows two different " want " and " likes " points in 2 brain regions.

Mice, humans and other mammals share these same brain regions and circuits, so the pleasure in mice is similar to that of humans. Research results may help find treatments for pleasure disorders such as obesity and drug addiction.

MT