Showing results for "Pleasure" in Neuroscience & Neuropsychology

A leading brain scientist's look at the neurobiology of pleasure-and how pleasures can become addictions. Whether eating, taking drugs, engaging in sex, or doing good deeds, the pursuit of pleasure is a central drive of the human animal. In The Compass of Pleasure Johns Hopkins neuroscientist David J. Linden explains how pleasure affects us at the most fundamental level: in our brain.

Social media, eating and gambling are just some of the things that can trigger a release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in our brain’s reward system that has a huge influence on our behaviours and habits. In The Dopamine Brain, addiction expert and clinical psychologist Dr Anastasia Hronis lifts the lid on dopamine – what it is, how it works inside our brain and how it drives our daily choices – so we can take back control.

For the modern world, it seems as if sexuality and spirituality have always been at odds. But what if the two are actually deeply connected? And what if science could prove this connection? From neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, Sex, God, and the Brain argues that our religious and spiritual experiences derive directly from our sexual being. While others have speculated on a connection between religion and sex, Newberg is the first to demonstrate that the underlying biological mechanism of religious, spiritual, and sexual experiences are identical.