I was thinking about how the brain releases chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin just the other day. Do thoughts have the ability to release chemicals or are actions/responses, such as laughing, a hug, or a discussion with a loved one, responsible for releasing brain chemicals?
Yes.
Thoughts influence and are influenced by emotions, emotions promote specific behaviors, which can then feedback positively or negatively. Each discrete step in this process has been studied quite a bit, from the molecular level like you suggest, to cells, local circuits, networks, and behaviors.
For example, unexpected reward activates midbrain dopamine neurons (known as the reward prediction error), promoting dopamine release which promotes further seeking of that rewarding experience --->which itself can alter how those same dopamine cells respond to future reward..
In general, thoughts include many kinds of cognitive events and consequences, such as associative thinking, logical reasoning, imagenation, computation, and so on. All of these processes to be fulfilled are based on associative memory cells, and their activation is driven by synaptic inputs where neurotransmitters are relased from presynaptic terminals. These messages can be found a comprehensive review in the following link.
Article Associative memory cells and their working principle in the brain
Deliberate thinking is affected by cortisol alone, and that this effect is not moderated by noradrenergic activity. Article: Article Exogenous cortisol causes a shift from deliberative to intui...
Thinking, as well as cognition, in general, is necessarily a biochemical process - that's how neurons work, by releasing neurotransmitter chemicals. An external stimulus is not required for neuronal activity.
Specific kinds of thoughts no doubt result in an elevated release of specific neurochemicals. Unfortunately this phenomenon is, for obvious reasons, difficult to model in experimental animals, thus usually requiring human subjects and precluding the use of some of the more compelling, though invasive, techniques employed in neuroscience research.
See work by:
"Hage SR, Nieder A (2016) Duel neural network model for the evolution of speech and language. Trends Neurosci 39:813-829."
in which they devote some text to laughter and brain circuits and which can be downloaded from RG.
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