ABSTRACT
A summary of the groundbreaking research leading to the discovery of the brain’s executive operating systems can be found in neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp’s book Affective Neuroscience (1998). Panksepp and his colleagues at Bowling Green State University have located seven motivational systems in the brain that can be reliably turned on through electrical stimulation. Depending upon the circuit stimulated, subjects experience motivation to ght, ee, or draw closer to each other. Mother nature has not le to chance the important task of forming intimate bonds. Four of the brain’s seven executive
operating systems make us feel interested in, invested in, loyal to, and more desirous of attention from our partners. Let’s take a look at each of them.
