Building a neuroscience of pleasure and well-being

While hedonic pleasure has been linked with brain function in the past, Berridge & Kringelbach (2011) explore new insights into how brains contribute to the hedonic aspect of sustained or frequent pleasure. Well-being and happiness have been reported to require both positive affect or pleasure (hedonia) and a sense of meaningfulness or engagement in life. This article also discusses how the brain might connect these two to form states of positive well-being. There has been recent advancements in the understanding of hedonic processing due to the largely similar hedonic brain mechanisms seen in humans and other mammals. It has been reported that the brain mechanisms of higher abstract pleasures strongly overlap with more basic sensory pleasures. Thus, the strategy of Berridge & Kringelbach acknowledges this new evidence as well as the findings on brain mediators that produce the pleasure of sensations. [NPID: perception, hedonic, pleasure, well-being, happiness, hedonia, sensory pleasure]

Year: 2011

Reference: Berridge, K. C., & Kringelbach, M. L. (2011). Building a neuroscience of pleasure and well-being. Psychology of well-being, 1(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1186/2211-1522-1-3