ALPHABETICAL BRAIN VOCABULARY Flash Card #62 - Details WHAT IS YOUR "PLEASURE CIRCUIT" AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT? Your PLEASURE CIRCUIT is known technically as your "MEDIAL FOREBRAIN PLEASURE CIRCUIT" or your brain's "reward center" since you can experience happiness, pleasure, and even blissful joy when the NEURONS from your VENTRAL TEGMENTAL AREA stimulate the release of DOPAMINE NEUROTRANSMITTERS! Your DOPAMINE NEURONS get distributed to your AMYGDALA, ACC (Anterior Cingulate Cortex), DS (Dorsal Striatum), HIPPOCAMPUS (actually "Hippocampi," since there are two of them), and PFC (PreFrontal Cortex, which includes both your "left" and your "right" FRONTAL LOBES), no matter what idea or activity you are getting pleasure or happiness from actually doing or even imagining doing! Activation of your "pleasure circuit" involves the coordinated interaction of NEURONS from several areas of your brain's CEREBRUM (your "intellectual brain") and your deep LIMBIC SYSTEM (your "emotional brain"). FACT CHECKER Return to #62: PLEASURE CIRCUIT or BRAIN FACTS MATRIX