<p>Professor Sweeney has expressed the hypothesis that counterfactual thoughts that follow a relief are an example of a such mechanism on the <a href="https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/waiting-games/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hidden Brain podcast</a> although it's not something she discussed in <a href="http://www.katesweeny.com/uploads/2/6/9/4/26944848/sweeny_vohs_2012_psysci.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the paper</a> which finds counterfactual thoughts to be a common aftermath of a relief. The podcast discussed an experience of a guy attacked by lions in a group and how such extreme sitations tend to be followed by euphoria and laughing that later feels chilling to the people who undergo them, making the euphoria feel like not worth the experience.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-23T15:44:17.253Z
2021-01-23T15:44:17.253Z
Probably
<p>Imagine a person has random psychosomatic itching and applies an ointment which brings relief. Could their brain wrongly assosiate the process that causes the itching as good as it brought relief?</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343819192_%27Liking%27_and_%27wanting%27_in_eating_and_food_reward_Brain_mechanisms_and_clinical_implications" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Berridge, 2020</a> recently showed, there's a difference between wanting and liking something and dopamine (which is said to work on the basis of operant conditioning) is rather assosiated with wanting. I wondered whether the brain can decypher when the operant conditioning creates a harmful feedback loop.</p>
<p>I would appreciate any literature recommendations which would bring me closer to the answer.</p>

<cognitive-psychology><cognitive-neuroscience><reference-request><cognitive-modeling><conditioning>
Does the brain possess mechanisms to spot a feedback loop of self-induced negative sensation and relief?
Probably
# Does the brain possess mechanisms to spot a feedback loop of self-induced negative sensation and relief?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-12-12)

Imagine a person has random psychosomatic itching and applies an ointment which brings relief. Could their brain wrongly assosiate the process that causes the itching as good as it brought relief?

As [Berridge, 2020](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343819192_%27Liking%27_and_%27wanting%27_in_eating_and_food_reward_Brain_mechanisms_and_clinical_implications) recently showed, there's a difference between wanting and liking something and dopamine (which is said to work on the basis of operant conditioning) is rather assosiated with wanting. I wondered whether the brain can decypher when the operant conditioning creates a harmful feedback loop.

I would appreciate any literature recommendations which would bring me closer to the answer.

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, cognitive-neuroscience, reference-request, cognitive-modeling, conditioning


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2021-01-23. Score: 1

Professor Sweeney has expressed the hypothesis that counterfactual thoughts that follow a relief are an example of a such mechanism on the [Hidden Brain podcast](https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/waiting-games/) although it's not something she discussed in [the paper](http://www.katesweeny.com/uploads/2/6/9/4/26944848/sweeny_vohs_2012_psysci.pdf) which finds counterfactual thoughts to be a common aftermath of a relief. The podcast discussed an experience of a guy attacked by lions in a group and how such extreme sitations tend to be followed by euphoria and laughing that later feels chilling to the people who undergo them, making the euphoria feel like not worth the experience.


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