Behind the Scenes of The Brain Show

by Zeev Nitsan

  Dopamine is released at times of sexual arousal before the act itself. It intensifies the libido, facilitates orgasm, and has a central role in activating the pleasure areas in the brain. Medications that increase dopamine release or imitate its action by connecting to its receptors might increase sexual desire.

  There are additional examples of the importance of pleasurable situations (reflected physiologically in “spurts of dopamine”) in terms of gene survival. In the society we live in, a large financial profit involves improved survival chances for the single organism, for obvious reasons, and a higher life expectancy, which increases the chance of a higher incidence of sexual intercourse. Laughter and music improve socialization and the chances of forming relationships.

  The lives of many of us are managed as a search for the golden fleece of the master key to the doors of happiness, which is, in fact, a renewable chase after the next dopamine spurt.

  In the course of a natural, normal life that does not involve use of psychoactive substances, we aim at this much-longed-for moment of dopamine spurt and enslave numerous moments of our life in order to reach it. It often involves a loss of precious time. It seems that this was what Freud meant when he claimed the libido, which directs our behavior toward reaching the next dopamine spurt involved in sexual orgasm, has an intense driving force in our lives.

  A major part of our conduct can be seen as a desperate chase after dopamine spurts and the blessed serenity of endorphins, similar to a drug addict who craves his next trip. We should be aware of the fact that a major part of our behavior derives from our desire to “break the dopesick for dopamine.” In this gloomy sense, we are nothing but biochemical marionettes dancing to the sounds of the hidden chords of the dopamine harp.

  Being aware of this fact might loosen the unseen grasp dopamine has on our brain a little bit. We sense a feeling of inner tension when the biochemical-electrical pendulum of central neural pathways (such as the neural mesocortical pathway, with its three-dimensional networks between the limbic system and the frontal lobe) deviates from the point of balance. Such a deviation, above a certain threshold, creates an inner motive (urge) for action. This action is mediated by dopamine, which brings the pendulum back to the point of balance.

  The above mechanism shares similarities with Freud’s pleasure principle in terms of release of tension and aspiring for homeostasis.

  The point of balance is not meant in the sense of ataraxia (stoic tranquility), since, under the influence of dopamine concentrations, we are often directed at innovation-oriented behavior, excitements, and even dangerous challenges.

  The craving for the new is mainly dopamine-driven. An innovation that makes our heart beat is at the basis of our attraction to fairytales, new books and films, and the surprise component similar to a punch line of a good joke. The dopamine, as aforesaid, is at the basis of our yearning for innovations. Studies point out that a medium level of novelty is more attractive than absolute novelty, which is perceived as threatening due to its lack of familiarity, and it is also more attractive than absolute familiarity, which is perceived as boring and lacking excitement.

  The initial attraction between spouses is created thanks to the shower of dopamine at the reward system in the brain. These showers are the start switches of the courtship-matching-parenthood software wired in our brains.

  Fred and Wilma from The Flintstones (a very nice animation series about a human family living in the Stone Age) acted under the influence of the same potion flooding our brain.

  Subjects of an experiment were introduced to scenarios that presented various versions of “the prisoner’s dilemma.” During the experiment, their brain was scanned by means of an fMRI. It was found that among the subjects who tended to cooperate more with others, the dopaminergic neurons pathways that run the reward system in the brain were highly active.

  These areas demonstrate intense activity when people look at attractive partners or experience contact with them, when their tongue meets their favorite dessert, and when they are under the influence of cocaine. Dopamine activity is a central component in these reactions, and it is also a prime cause for the fact that love is addictive, trust is pleasurable, and cooperation is relaxing.

  Sounds as Agents of Pleasure

  Music can shape an emotional state, which increases various aspects of thought flexibility. The mysterious path of music in terms of forming emotions is based on the link between audio-processing centers and the limbic and reward systems. This connection is at the basis of the ability of the fingers of sounds to play the keys of emotions in the brain.

  Music causes changes in the neural pathways of the reward system with the help of dopamine and opioids, similar to the changes that are caused by familiar pleasure generators such as laughter, play, sex, and drugs.

  Sounds are active in our brain as effect agents. For example, in a wine store, it was found that while French music is played in the background more French wines are sold, and when Italian music is played more bottles of Italian wine are sold.

  Dopamine Coordinators—Brain Performance

  A higher amount of dopamine at the prefrontal lobes is found to be in correlation with better performance of a great number of cognitive tasks. In the brains of young people, the average content of dopamine at the prefrontal lobes is higher compared to that of aging brains.

  High levels of dopamine in the brain lead to a good mood and improve cognitive processing. Learning as a result of positive or negative reinforcement depends on the level of dopamine.

  The dopamine is a central service tool in the mechanism of the “crystal ball” in our brain. Its dosage at the designated neural networks enables us to predict rewards. The correlation between the actual reward and the predicted one affects its level. The changes in the level of dopamine determine our level of satisfaction from the result. A wide gap between expectation and realization, however, when the actual reward greatly exceeds our expectation, bounces the level of dopamine. An expectation of a significant reward increases the level of dopamine, and it is also increased when the actual reward is more satisfying than the predicted one.

  Neurons whose communication signals are transferred by means of dopamine mediation constantly create prediction pattern such as “if–than.” Correlations that are validated by reality manifestations reinforce the neural pattern at their basis, which means the network of neurons that constitutes the structural infrastructure of the predicting pattern that was realized. A fulfilled prediction rewards the neuron network that predicted it with a spurt of dopamine, which creates a sense of pleasure and reinforces its structural infrastructure. An unfulfilled prediction causes a sharp decrease in dopamine discharge, which is the biochemical parallel of the sense of disappointment, and the structural infrastructure at the basis of the unfulfilled prediction becomes loose. A reward that exceeds the prediction causes the greatest spurt of dopamine—three to four times higher than the basic level of dopamine—and, accordingly, it leads to a maximal sense of pleasure.

  The dosage of dopamine and the level of arousal it induces are correlated with the gap between our expectations and the actual events. The wider the gap between the expected result and the actual positive result that exceeds expectations, the higher the amount of dopamine secretion. In this sense, dopamine is the trademark in the profile of “a good surprise.”

  Prediction is not only related to the quality of the expected result, but also to its timing within a certain window of time. When the reward’s quality and timing match the expectation, the level of dopamine is retained and even increases (“the pleasure of being just”). On the other hand, a reward that is lower than expected significantly reduces the level of dopamine.

  The brain area called the anterior cingulated gyrus is in charge of weighing the production of emotional brain areas and rationalistic brain areas and their mergence. Such an activity enables the “lesson” our brain is supposed to learn, in light of the unfulfilled prediction, so we will not make th
e same mistake over and over again. An accurate intuition results from laborious trial-and-error practices whose lessons are written with the dopamine pen.

  The level of dopamine in certain brain areas is translated into our tendency to initiate certain acts. If we know the level of dopamine at certain brain areas, we will have a tool with which to assess to what extent a certain person is likely to initiate daring acts and take risks. In other words, there is a correlation between the level of dopamine and the level of daring in various circumstances, such as investing in the stock exchange or even initiating romantic relationships.

  The world is represented in our brain as a scope of reward areas of various degrees (positive, neutral, and negative). Our brain navigates through this gradient of rewards in an attempt to reach an area with a high concentration of rewards and draw away from areas with low or negative concentration of rewards. The main compass used by our brain in its maneuvers is the level of dopamine.

  Chapter 6: Psychonautica

  One can find evidence for initiated use of cognition-modifying substances in almost every human culture. It turns out that the smoke of the frankincense resin, which curled upward during various rituals in the Middle East in ancient times, has an antidepressant psychoactive effect.

  The Aztecs and Mayans used to use enemas that contained extracts of deliriant seeds during various rituals. This pathway of achieving euphoria is quicker than better-known patterns pathways, such as the pathway of the esophagus (drinking) or the pathway of the trachea (smoking), and its side effects are fewer.

  According to mythology, the gods talked from the throat of the Oracle of Delphi, who apparently owed her richly descriptive prophecies to earthy intoxicating substances rather than to divine inspiration.

  African tribes’ members used to use the hallucinatory drug iboga.

  Opium dens were common in the past in the Far East.

  It was 1897 when researchers probably started researching deliriant substances in an organized, scientific manner. This was the year in which the chemist Arthur Heffter isolated mescaline—the psychoactive substance found in the peyote cactus—and, by doing so, took off to the sky with diamonds in a scientific rocket of psychoactive substances.

  Out of This World—Heaven’s Breath and Angels’ Dust as Cognition Expanders

  When laughing gas (nitrogen oxide) was discovered, and that upon meeting our brain it improves our mood, it was termed “breath of heaven.” Cognition-modifying substances were termed breath of heaven and angels’ dust, since their fans thought they were capable of making our cognition soar from the ground level of earthy cognition to divine heights of improved cognition.

  Freud described his real-time thoughts, sailing his stream of consciousness while experiencing the use of cocaine, to his fiancée, Martha, in a letter he wrote to her on February 2, 1886. The rapidly changing mix of emotions under the influence of the drug is reflected in his words. He also sent her a small portion of the drug in order to “strengthen her and redden her cheeks a little.” At the time, the use of cocaine was not prohibited. Later, he studied the medical usages of the drug and wrote about his experience using it in an essay called “Uber Coca” (“About Coca”).

  Aldous Huxley experienced the use of the mescaline drug and documented his experiences in his paper “The Doors of Perception.”

  The chemist Alexander Shulgin[23] might be considered the Mendeleev of psychedelic drugs - the founder of the periodic table of psychedelic drugs. Shulgin wrote some very thick books about psychedelic substances. He arranged encounters between his brain and some of these substances and described the implications meticulously and scientifically.

  Psychedelic Hallucinatory Drugs

  Psychonautica is a like a hitchhiker’s guide to the universe of cognition. Some people consider psychoactive substances a hidden path to the “forbidden city” of cognition, a type of heavenly Tree of Knowledge apple that is available to residents of Earth to bite and enables them to “exit inside.”

  Hallucinatory drugs are described as spaceships traveling in expeditions across the brain galaxy as the psycho-nautic universe opens up for them without need of a compass or road map. Some give excuses and describe their use of hallucinatory drugs as an attempt to open the windows of cognition and let the “light of pure reality” in. They describe their experience with these substances as a journey to places in which the limits of time and space dissolve; places where the wind has color, and a field of flowers of every scent, shape and color, never encountered before by our senses, stretches out to the horizon.

  Psychoactive substances like amphetamines and cocaine increase the amount of dopamine at the synapses (communication junctions between one neuron to another) in various neural pathways. This mechanism is central in relation to the effect of many hallucinatory drugs. An additional important action mechanism in the effect of psychedelic substances is activation of A2 receptors of serotonin. These receptors greatly affect the processing of the senses’ input and perception processes.

  It was also claimed that musical sounds at unique frequencies and rhythms, downloaded from various Internet sites, might affect the level of consciousness beyond the known emotional effect of music. In other words, the fingertips of frequencies, which can be seen as the morphological aspect of sounds typing on the keyboard of consciousness, and the aspect of overall general acoustic harmony, which can be seen as the aspect that is more related to content, seem marginal in this context. This type of effect on brain activity has also been defined as a “digital drug.”

  Some people claim that they managed to go deeper into the depths of consciousness when they were “exhausted after spending a night of too much of everything.” As “rain pilots” who perform cloud seeding using silver iodine at stormy nights and “milk” from the clouds more showers than they would voluntarily give, it seems that certain psychoactive substances “milk” our brain for more than it is willing to give us under normal circumstances.

  Some consider the effect of psychoactive substances as the incantation that opens the Ali Baba cave of cognition, which is normally hidden from consciousness. Sometimes, they are used as “consolation pills” or biochemical escapism. In his dystopian novel Brave New World, writer Aldous Huxley describes a “soma pill” taken by people to allay their mental suffering.[24] Like Huxley, researcher Susan Blackmore believes that certain psychoactive substances are “consciousness expanders and tuners.”

  Some people zigzag between exiting sanity and going back to it (brief, controlled exits) by means of psychoactive substances, as a repetitive pattern, in the name of “cognition expansion.”

  There is no dispute over the fact that multiple risks are involved in psycho-nautic journeys in the universe of consciousness: psychoactive substances are justifiably sensitive legality-wise and health-wise.

  Brain ambrosia at every street corner involves the risk of inflicting our brain with madness, which would be reflected in temporary or permanent functional disruption.

  The Inner Skull Drug Cartel

  There are highly complex relationships between the various ingredients that compose the biochemical cocktail that floods our brain.

  The brain is full of streams, falls, and pools of compounds that mediate its activity. There is constant dynamic balance among the concentrations of various psychoaffective compounds, which compose the soul-potion cocktail, that greatly affect our emotional and mental state at every given moment.

  The brain is a large laboratory in which self-produced drugs are constantly made for its own usage (see dopamine, testosterone, serotonin, acetylcholine, adrenalin, noradrenalin, etc.). We might claim that all of us are naturally drugged by substances mixed by our brain. The periodic table of human brain drugs has not been completed yet; further, strenuous research is needed in order to improve our understanding regarding the order and regularity of the mix of potions that flood our brain.

  The number of potions made at the lab located inside our head and the distribution
patterns of their receptors determine, to a great extent, the nature of the “cognitive creatures” we will become, in the sense of our typical thinking style, the emotional soundtrack that is usually played within our skull, the preferred processing pattern, our tendency to prefer a certain type of information to another, etc.

  Some might claim that, as time does not exist in a mechanical watch but can be inferred from the pattern of the hands’ configuration, “high emotions,” such as affection, do not “exist” in the brain but are, rather, formed in a pattern of “inner interpretation” of a configuration of typical activity of neurons’ networks (such a view involves the existence of the “experiencing self,” and it resides in the twilight zone of body–soul relationship). In this spirit, we can compare the activity configuration of the neurons and the hands of a clock, and it derives, inter alia, from the mix of neurotransmitters, which mediate the activity. In addition, the neurotransmitters also have a role in interpreting the content granted by the “experiencing self” to the morphological aspect of the activity pattern of neural networks. According to a rival approach, the activity configuration of neurons’ networks directly creates the modes of consciousness, which means that the “experiencing self,” which supposedly resides at a higher layer of cognition, is not really required.

  Tailor-Made Emotions—Knowing Your Momentary Trip

  The crucial effect of the “inner drugs” (the neurotransmitters), the array of receptors, and the pathways of their transmission are hidden from the eye of consciousness; we usually sense only the final result of their activity.

  Is it possible to get to know the ingredients of the potion that bewitches our brain at any given moment?