[{"_1":2,"_188":-5,"_189":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_10":11},"root",{"_5":-5,"_6":7,"_8":9},"user","canEdit",false,"sequenceId",3,"routes/sequence",{"_5":-5,"_6":7,"_12":7,"_13":14,"_186":187,"_24":-5},"isCreator","sequence",{"_15":9,"_16":17,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":23,"_24":-5,"_25":21,"_26":-5,"_27":28,"_29":30,"_31":32},"id","title","I'll have that chocolate after dinner","description","I see that chocolate on the plate. I'm tempted to eat it now, but I'm having dinner soon so I'll wait till dessert.","userId",1,"draft",0,"publishedVersionId","isPublishedVersion","currentlyEditedBy","lastEditedAt","1771755028847","createdAt","2026-01-30 16:12:57","steps",[33,85,104,125,169],{"_15":34,"_8":9,"_16":35,"_18":36,"_22":23,"_29":37,"_38":39,"_42":43,"_46":47,"_49":50,"_74":75},318,"See chocolate","

I see the chocolate on the plate in front of me

Light from the chocolate enters my eyes.

The light from the chocolate signal finds its way from the eyes to the cuneus at the back of the brain.

The diagram below has been added because the atlas above does not cover the top view of the brain. It illustrates how light gets transformed into nerve signals in the retina, enters the optic nerve, mixes signals from the left and right eyes in the optic chiasm, gets relayed by LGNs to the Cuneus.

$\"Optic$

For more information about this process, check out this article: Science of vision: How do our eyes enable us to see? (partial source of the diagram, from howitworksdaily).

","2026-02-22 10:10:25","brainpart_ids",[40,41],101,191,"brainpart_titles",[44,45],"Sight","Cuneus","brainpart_images",[48],"","step_links",[51,63,69],{"_52":53,"_54":55,"_56":57,"_58":59,"_60":61,"_62":21},"x1",8,"y1",19,"x2",33,"y2",29,"curvature",-0.3,"strokeWidth",{"_52":64,"_54":65,"_56":66,"_58":67,"_60":68,"_62":21},35,27,40,23,0.5,{"_52":70,"_54":71,"_56":72,"_58":73,"_60":61,"_62":21},42,24,53,28,"citations",[76],{"_15":77,"_78":34,"_16":79,"_80":81,"_82":23,"_83":84},106,"stepId","D H Hubel, T N Wiesel (1962)","url","https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.1962.sp006837","orderIndex","hover","Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex (the Journal of Physiology)",{"_15":86,"_8":9,"_16":87,"_18":88,"_22":23,"_29":37,"_38":89,"_42":91,"_46":93,"_49":94,"_74":98},319,"Recognize chocolate","

I recognize it as chocolate

Once the image has been processed in the cuneus, different areas of the brain handle different tasks to make sense of it. The area most related to recognizing objects, such as our piece of chocolate, is the Inferior temporal gyrus. The Inferior temporal gyrus also contains a large chunk responsible for recognizing faces, but that is for another sequence.

\n",[90,41],152,[92,45],"Inferior_temporal_gyrus",[48],[95],{"_52":72,"_54":65,"_56":96,"_58":97,"_60":68,"_62":21},32,60,[99],{"_15":100,"_78":86,"_16":101,"_80":102,"_82":23,"_83":103},107,"DiCarlo, Zoccolan, Rust (2012)","https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-62731200092-X","How Does the Brain Solve Visual Object Recognition? (Neuron)",{"_15":105,"_8":9,"_16":106,"_18":107,"_22":23,"_29":108,"_38":109,"_42":111,"_46":113,"_49":114,"_74":119},320,"Remember pleasure","

I like chocolate

Now that my Inferior temporal gyrus has recognized that dark brown patch to be a piece of chocolate, the information is picked up by the hippocampus. The hippocampus being essential for memory formation and emotional processing, this is where the brain relates the recognition of chocolate with memories of previous sensations of pleasure.

\n","2026-02-22 10:10:26",[90,110],201,[92,112],"Hippocampus",[48],[115],{"_52":96,"_54":97,"_56":116,"_58":117,"_60":118,"_62":21},66,68,-0.2,[120],{"_15":121,"_78":105,"_16":122,"_80":123,"_82":23,"_83":124},108,"Ranganath et al (2004)","https://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/16/3917","Charan Ranganath, Michael X Cohen, Cathrine Dam, Mark D'Esposito: Inferior temporal, prefrontal, and hippocampal contributions to visual working memory maintenance and associative memory retrieval (Journal of Neuroscience)",{"_15":126,"_8":9,"_16":127,"_18":128,"_22":23,"_29":129,"_38":130,"_42":132,"_46":134,"_49":135,"_74":163},321,"Yummy","

Yummy

Now that the hippocampus has established the relationship between chocolate and pleasure, a trigger reaches the ventral tegmental area (VTA), to release dopamine. This spreads the news in the brain that this is something good. Note that the brain does not have to wait until the chocolate is eaten to start releasing dopamine.

","2026-02-22 10:10:27",[131,110],184,[133,112],"Ventral_tegmental_area",[48],[136,138,144,149,153,157,159],{"_52":137,"_54":116,"_56":66,"_58":96,"_60":68,"_62":21},65,{"_52":70,"_54":139,"_56":140,"_58":141,"_60":142,"_62":143},25,49,13,0.3,0.6,{"_52":145,"_54":146,"_56":147,"_58":148,"_60":142,"_62":143},43,26,50,22,{"_52":150,"_54":59,"_56":151,"_58":57,"_60":152,"_62":143},44,52,0.1,{"_52":154,"_54":155,"_56":156,"_58":145,"_60":118,"_62":143},41,31,48,{"_52":154,"_54":139,"_56":158,"_58":141,"_60":118,"_62":143},36,{"_52":160,"_54":146,"_56":161,"_58":162,"_60":118,"_62":143},39,30,20,[164],{"_15":165,"_78":126,"_16":166,"_80":167,"_82":23,"_83":168},109,"Sayegh et al, 2024","https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47481-4","Fares J. P. Sayegh, Lionel Mouledous, Catherine Macri, Juliana Pi Macedo, Camille Lejards, Claire Rampon, Laure Verret & Lionel Dahan: Ventral tegmental area dopamine projections to the hippocampus trigger long-term potentiation and contextual learning (Nature)",{"_15":170,"_8":9,"_16":171,"_18":172,"_22":23,"_29":173,"_38":174,"_42":176,"_46":178,"_49":179,"_74":180},322,"Maybe later","

Maybe later

The decision-making areas of the frontal cortex, and particularly the frontal pole weigh the pros and cons and decide it's too close to dinner time to eat the chocolate now..

","2026-02-22 10:10:28",[175],200,[177],"Frontal_pole",[],[],[181],{"_15":182,"_78":170,"_16":183,"_80":184,"_82":23,"_83":185},110,"Collins & Koechlin (2012)","https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001293","Reasoning, Learning, and Creativity: Frontal Lobe Function and Human Decision-Making (PLOS)","hasDraft",true,"actionData","errors"]