Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans

Curr Biol. 2009 Dec 29;19(24):2077-80. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.025. Epub 2009 Nov 12.

Abstract

Human action is strongly influenced by expectations of pleasure. Making decisions, ranging from which products to buy to which job offer to accept, requires an estimation of how good (or bad) the likely outcomes will make us feel [1]. Yet, little is known about the biological basis of subjective estimations of future hedonic reactions. Here, we show that administration of a drug that enhances dopaminergic function (dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine; L-DOPA) during the imaginative construction of positive future life events subsequently enhances estimates of the hedonic pleasure to be derived from these same events. These findings provide the first direct evidence for the role of dopamine in the modulation of subjective hedonic expectations in humans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Dopamine Agents / pharmacology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Imagination / drug effects*
  • Imagination / physiology
  • Levodopa / pharmacology*
  • Male
  • Pleasure / drug effects*
  • Pleasure / physiology
  • Reward*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Substances

  • Dopamine Agents
  • Levodopa