Question: What happens in our brains when we like stuff? what makes us like it?

Rebecca Dewey answered on 22 Jun 2015:

We have a network of regions in the brain that deal with emotions, pleasantness, unpleasantness (disgust), pain etc. Our brains have learned to associate some things with good feelings (sounds, smells, tastes) and other things with bad feelings (sounds, smells, tastes) depending on whether we like something or not. So if I like broccoli and you don’t then our brains will react differently when we both eat broccoli depending on whether or not we like it. The part of the brain that deals with taste and texture will send messages to different parts of the brain depending on whether it decides on “yum, that was nice” or “yuk, no more of that please”!!!

If we like something then the areas of the brain that deal with feeling happy and content will receive signalling from the sensory areas saying that we have experienced something that is pleasant. Those brain areas will then activate, sending other signals between cells and this will use up oxygen and fuel in the blood and demand that more blood is sent to support this activity.