Novelty and variety stimulate dopamine.Dopamine has many functions which include measuring reward value, motivation, learning & memory, salience (importance) and sexual desire. Dysregulation of dopamine is a major hallmark of all addictions, including porn addiction. And this is important because novelty is what makes Internet porn different from magazines or a rented DVD. Each click, each search, each moment of anticipation leads to a squirt of dopamine. Accordingly, endless novelty-and-variety is the key addictive feature of the Internet and especially Internet porn. Dopamine is key for understanding reward value for the user, or salience, and shoots up when there is a violation of expectation. Imagine having the same Playboy magazine as your only stimulation for a month’s worth of masturbation. Would you develop an addiction, or porn-induced ED from 30 days of the same static centerfold? No way. There wouldn’t be enough novelty to stimulate the dopamine.
Novelty and variety stimulate Dopamine
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