Brain reward systems and social interaction

[Alan J. Robinson]

On Thu, 23 Nov 1995 20:23:57 -0800, 
Coolray Hollywood   <pvollrat at icogsci1.ucsd.edu> wrote:

>
>
>On 18 Nov 1995, JAppel2188 wrote:
>
>> Social interaction must involve brain reward systems in the amygdala,
>> hippocampus and septal regions.  Is any one interested in this
>> relationship, or have any information about it?
>> 
>> 
>Actually, David Brin asked an audience on Nov 17 at UCSD, for information 
>to confirm his suspicions that women goo-gooing a baby in a carriage are 
>getting an neurotransmitter fix of some kind or another.  
>
>How do we go about examining this hypothesis?
>

I don't know specifically about social interaction, but brain reward 
mechanisms have been the subject of an enormous amount of research, 
with a lot of it taking place in the San Diego area.  One important 
mechanism is dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, thought to play a 
role in cocaine addiction.  Bonidng between mother and infant is also 
believed to involved the hormone oxytocin.

Floyd Bloom, head of the Neuropharmacology dept. at Scripps, and now 
Editor-in-Chief of Science, has published in this area.

AAJR