a psychologist's blog – research and ideas to digest
Brain training is a hot topic. It’s a million-dollar business and its popularity is still increasing. We have been interested in increasing people’s intelligence since the study of intelligence, but computerized brain training is a relatively new invention.
Much evidence has associated dopamine with the brain’s reward system. For this reason, dopamine has been called the “feel good” or pleasure chemical. Stimulation of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, makes us feel good.
A study by Golle, Mast & Lobmaier (2013) shows how emotional expressions of happiness influence the judgment of attractiveness.
A new study by Nielsen and colleagues (2013) examined this by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The authors obtained data from fMRI reports of 1011 individuals between the ages of 7 and 29. These fMRI reports revealed the individuals’ resting brain activity.
The sensorimotor-based theories posit that the brain becomes activated in the same brain regions when people perceive and interact with an object, and when they store its meaning. Therefore, having an experience with an object should shape its meaning (Yee et al., 2013).
A literature review by Mitchell & Phillips (2007) examined how positive and negative moods influence people’s cognitive functioning, or more specifically, executive functions.
The impact of the neurotransmitter serotonin on the brain functioning is extensive, and the treatment of a number of psychological disorders involves serotonin in some way or another.
Anxiety disorders are some of the most frequent psychological disorders, and the processes involved in fear conditioning seem to be the same across species, i.e. the same neural structures may be involved.
A study by Elliott and colleagues (2003), published in The Journal of Neuroscience, used a functional magnetic resonance imaging technique (fMRI) to identify the brain areas that are affected by rewards. The parametric technique is a way of investigating how the brain becomes activated when it is
Continue readingHow Money Affects the Brain’s Reward System (Why Money is Addictive)