But then our level of dopamine drops below baseline and it's that drop below baseline that triggers the motivation to bring that dopamine level back up by going and pursuing the thing that you wanted in the first place . Now , of course , as this is happening , you're not conscious of your dopamine levels , you experience this as context dependent craving and pursuit because remember the prefrontal cortex is involved in context setting and craving and pursuit because it relates to action and movement , which is one of the general features of the dopamine system . So you can start to see how this is a beautifully designed system .
So I'm gonna give you a visual in your mind . The visual in your mind is an increase in dopamine that's triggered by your desire for something and really could be your desire for anything if you're hungry and you're thinking about , I really want a sandwich . I really wanna , let's think what sandwich would I want right now .
This is crucially important to understand dopamine is not just released when we get the reward . When we get the thing that we're pursuing , dopamine is released in anticipation of what we want . That increase in dopamine is by no happenstance .
So let's think about dopamine peaks and baselines . And let's remember that for every peak there's a trough .
When I'm thirsty , there's an increase in dopamine that we could call a little mini peak in dopamine . But then here's the key thing very soon after I realized my desire for something that peak that was caused by the desire comes down and drops below baseline below the level of dopamine that it was prior to even thinking about the sandwich or the coffee or the glass of water . And it's that drop below baseline that triggers my desire to go out and find that sandwich , that coffee , that water or that blank insert , whatever it is that you happen to desire action or substance of any kind or person , et cetera .
