Pleasure feels different in different senses {pleasure, sense}.
causes
Pleasure can result from satisfying desire, overcoming body deficiency or excess, realizing potential, euthumia, eudaimonia, or having pain-free and tranquil state. Pleasure results from intermediate intensity, energy, or concentration on intermediate-size area. Pleasurable stimuli have simple pattern, low contrast, slow variation, slow movement, and relaxed time flow. Light touch, slight warmth or cooling, soothing sound, soft light, and mild smells and tastes can cause pleasure. Absolute intensity, simple or complex pattern, high or low contrast, fast or slow variation, fast or slow movement, physical location, and time of day do not associate with pleasure.
behavior
The fundamental pleasure characteristic is attraction or advance toward stimulus [Duncker, 1941]. Pleasure causes attention to object. Pleasure causes motivation to draw object nearer to increase pleasure. People can ignore pleasure.
effects
Pleasure increases blood flow. Pleasure causes time to appear to flow more rapidly. Pleasure causes liking, preferring, or desiring. Pleasure is rewarding.
To give same pleasure amount later, stimulus intensity must increase.
brain
Medial forebrain bundle runs from forebrain to brainstem and sends to ventral-tegmentum dopamine neurons, which affect forebrain. Pleasure differs in different species, because neocortex differs.
Randomly placed brainstem electrodes produce pleasure 35% of time. Randomly placed brainstem electrodes produce neither pleasure nor pain 60% of time.
nature
Perhaps, pleasure is a cognition that comes after another sensation. Pleasure is not intentional but is only about itself. Desire for pleasure is hard to understand, because desire is for objects, but pleasure is inside oneself.
Pleasure can come from being virtuous {eudaimonia}.
Pleasure can come from being cheerful {euthumia}.
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Date Modified: 2022.0225