Tweet: Dopamine, Reward and its anticipation by Robert Sapolsky

“Once reward contingencies are learned, dopamine is less about reward than about its anticipation. The pleasure is in the anticipation of reward, and the reward itself is nearly an afterthought (unless, of course, the reward fails to arrive,) “

M. Sapolsky

— Kiran Johny (@johnywrites) September 10, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\

Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, compares dopamine levels in monkeys and humans. Sapolsky argues that in both, “Dopamine is not about pleasure, it’s about the anticipation of pleasure. It’s about the pursuit of happiness.”

Explore dopamine’s effect upon learning from a genetic perspective with Dr. Richard Palmiter, University of Washington.