[!todo] Seed note. A starting point, not a finished note yet.
“Wanting” and “liking” are distinct brain processes that usually travel together but can be pulled apart. Wanting, the motivational pull toward a reward, runs largely on dopamine in the mesolimbic pathway. Liking, the actual pleasure of the reward, runs on opioid and endocannabinoid signaling in small “hedonic hotspots.” Kent Berridge’s lab showed dopamine is neither necessary nor sufficient for liking, which breaks the common assumption that dopamine is the “pleasure chemical.” The split explains addiction (intense wanting without much liking) and, more mildly, why anticipation can outrun the event. Seeded from Anticipatory Savoring.