How's your Dopamine Level?

Why Learning can be a RUSH for some!

It’s a Neurotransmitter thing, as discussed in this Science of Nerdiness article

Here’s some nuggets. How active is your nerdy dopamine pathway?

Check out these statements and if they describe you, dopamine might well be flowing strongly to your prefrontal cortex:

I love spending time reflecting on things.
I am full of ideas.
I have a vivid imagination.
I am interested in abstract ideas.
I am curious about many different things.

Don’t understand why everyone else around you is so interested in sex, drugs and money, and why you get so turned on by stimulating ideas and learning new and interesting things?

Now you have a potential answer: You may be highly sensitive to the reward value of information.

If dopamine is not all about feeling good, then why does the feel-good myth persist in the public imagination? I think it’s because so much research on dopamine has been conducted with regard to its role in motivating exploration toward our more primal “appetitive” rewards, such as chocolate, social attention, social status, sexual partners, gambling or drugs like cocaine.

However, in recent years, other dopamine pathways in the brain have been proposed that are strongly linked to the reward value of information. People who score high in the general tendency toward exploration are not only driven to engage in behavioral forms of exploration, but also tend to get energized through the possibility of discovering new information and extracting meaning and growth from their experiences.

These “cognitive needs,” as the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow referred to them, are just as important as other human needs for becoming a whole person.

Check out the entire article and start feeling EXTRA good when you’re excited about ‘learning’ and your ‘new ideas’.

As I keep sharing: ‘To Do Well – you Must BE Well’.

Cheers,

Barb Ashcroft