New research shows that "feel good" brain messengers can be controlled arbitrarily

From tasting wine while hearing the excitement of the ice cream truck approaching the peak of pleasure, the neural messenger called dopamine is generally described as a "feel good" chemical in the brain related to rewards and happiness

Dopamine is a ubiquitous neurotransmitter that transmits signals between brain cells.

Research led by Conrad Foo, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, found that the neocortex of mice is filled with unpredictable pulses of dopamine, which occur approximately once every minute

The researchers investigated whether the mice were actually aware of these impulses, recorded in the laboratory through molecular and optical imaging techniques, and actually occurred

The researchers pointed out in the paper: "It is important that the mice learn to reliably induce (dopamine) impulses before accepting rewards

The researchers said that this study opens a new dimension to the study of dopamine and brain dynamics

The researchers pointed out: "We further speculate that the animal's spontaneous dopamine impulse may stimulate it to search and forage in the absence of known reward predictive stimuli

In their efforts to control dopamine, the researchers clarified that dopamine seems to promote rather than initiate exercise behavior

David Kleinfeld, a senior co-author of the study and a professor in the Department of Neurobiology, said: "This is an accidental discovery.

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