Supplementary material from "Pleasure junkies all around! Why it matters and why ‘the arts’ might be the answer: a biopsychological perspective"

Choice behaviour becomes biased towards short-term pleasure-maximizing goals, just as in the addicted brain (modulated by the Amygdala, posterior VMFC, striatum, nucleus accumbens; ‘A-system') and away from long-term prosperity and general well-being maximizing objectives (normally ensured by the Insula, anterior VMFC, hippocampus, DLPFC, ACC; ‘I-system’). This paper outlines, first, what ‘pleasure' is and what ‘pleasure-only' activities are (e.g. social media engagement, hyper-palatable eating).

Second, an account is given of the type of action that might aid to maintain the neural systems underlying choice behaviour balanced. Finally, it is proposed that engagement with the arts might be an activity with the potential to foster healthy choice behaviour—and not be just for pleasure. The evidence in this rather new field of research is still piecemeal and inconclusive.

This review aims to motivate targeted research in this domain.