SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR
If you do something well (as you perceive it, or as others tell you), or if you have a good meal, or if you achieve something you have long desired, your ‘pleasure centre’ is stimulated, and messages which make you feel happy, or satiated, or triumphant pass to other parts of your body. You feel good!
Scientists who study brain structure and function have found that the areas of the brain which appear to control sexual arousal are closely related anatomically to areas of the brain which relay sensations of pleasure. For convenience the areas controlling sexual arousal are called the ‘sex centre’, although in reality they are systems of interconnected areas in the brain. The ‘sex centre’ and the ‘pleasure centre’ lie close to each other in the oldest part of the brain and probably have nerve fibres connecting them. In an experiment which supports this concept, Dr Heath, a scientist, has discovered that in animals orgasm is associated with strong electrical impulses in the pleasure area of the brain. Many men and women, after a particularly arousing sexual experience, feel warm and loving to their partner; they lose hostility and aggression to others, and the pleasurable mood can last for hours.
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