Edit: read my comment down below for clarification
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I remember seeing a yt video on machine learning and evolution where neurons were initially programmed to fire erratically, and to encourage the desired behaviour, the neurons were rewarded by firing in an orderly manner when the correct result was achieved. The neurons were basically coded to prefer order over entropy.
How realistic is that for real neurons in animals and humans? Dopamine feels good, but why? I struggle to understand what’s exactly happening in the brain to make certain chemicals like oxyctocin, serotonin “feel good”.
I recommend the lecture series “Neuroscience of Everyday Life”
The short answer is, we don’t really know yet. Presumably you are referring to dopamine and serotonin. These are actually only a tiny fraction of the neurotransmitters used within the brain (glutamate and GABA are much more prevalent) though they are still important.
We have a lot of evidence to support the idea that dopamine is involved in decisions and reward, and the prevailing idea is that it is an evolutionary mechanism that makes us favor making decisions that have favorable outcomes.
As to why this logically beneficial trait has the subjective quality of “feeling good”, we don’t really know.
Neurotransmitters are just chemical signals sent between neurons. There’s nothing inherent about any of them that gives them particular properties – it all depends on the neural systems that use a particular neurotransmitter to signal.
Example: pushing down on the gas pedal of a car makes it go faster, pushing down on the brake pedal makes it go slower. Pushing down on a pedal is just a signal, it’s what the pedal is connected to that really matters.
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