scholarly journals The Role of Social Reward and Corticostriatal Connectivity in Substance Use

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Sazhin ◽  
Angelique Frazier ◽  
Caleb River Haynes ◽  
Camille Johnston ◽  
Iris Ka-Yi Chat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Reward Sensitivity ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Neuroimaging Study

This report describes an ongoing R03 grant that explores the links between trait reward sensitivity, substance use, and neural responses to social and nonsocial reward. Although previous research has shown that trait reward sensitivity and neural responses to reward are linked to substance use, whether this relationship is impacted by how people process social stimuli remains unclear. We are investigating these questions via a neuroimaging study with college-aged participants, using individual difference measures that examine the relation between substance use, social context, and trait reward sensitivity with tasks that measure reward anticipation, strategic behavior, social reward consumption, and the influence of social context on reward processing. We predict that substance use will be tied to distinct patterns of striatal dysfunction. Specifically, reward hyposensitive individuals will exhibit blunted striatal responses to social and non-social reward and enhanced connectivity with the orbitofrontal cortex; in contrast, reward hypersensitive individuals will exhibit enhanced striatal responses to social and non-social reward and blunted connectivity with the orbitofrontal cortex. We also will examine the relation between self-reported reward sensitivity, substance use, and striatal responses to social reward and social context. We predict that individuals reporting the highest levels of substance use will show exaggerated striatal responses to social reward and social context, independent of self-reported reward sensitivity. Examining corticostriatal responses to reward processing will help characterize the relation between reward sensitivity, social context and substance use while providing a foundation for understanding risk factors and isolating neurocognitive mechanisms that may be targeted to increase the efficacy of interventions.

Altered reward processing in the orbitofrontal cortex and hippocampus in healthy first-degree relatives of patients with depression

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1183-1195 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Macoveanu ◽  
U. Knorr ◽  
A. Skimminge ◽  
M. G. Søndergaard ◽  
A. Jørgensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
First Degree Relatives ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Left Hippocampus ◽  
Risk Choice ◽  
Double Blinded ◽  
Depressive Patients

BackgroundHealthy first-degree relatives of patients with major depression (rMD+) show brain structure and functional response anomalies and have elevated risk for developing depression, a disorder linked to abnormal serotonergic neurotransmission and reward processing.MethodIn a two-step functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigation, we first evaluated whether positive and negative monetary outcomes were differentially processed by rMD+ individuals compared to healthy first-degree relatives of control probands (rMD−). Second, in a double-blinded placebo-controlled randomized trial we investigated whether a 4-week intervention with the selective serotonergic reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) escitalopram had a normalizing effect on behavior and brain responses of the rMD+ individuals.ResultsNegative outcomes increased the probability of risk-averse choices in the subsequent trial in rMD+ but not in rMD− individuals. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) displayed a stronger neural response when subjects missed a large reward after a low-risk choice in the rMD+ group compared to the rMD− group. The enhanced orbitofrontal response to negative outcomes was reversed following escitalopram intervention compared to placebo. Conversely, for positive outcomes, the left hippocampus showed attenuated response to high wins in the rMD+ compared to the rMD− group. The SSRI intervention reinforced the hippocampal response to large wins. A subsequent structural analysis revealed that the abnormal neural responses were not accounted for by changes in gray matter density in rMD+ individuals.ConclusionsOur study in first-degree relatives of depressive patients showed abnormal brain responses to aversive and rewarding outcomes in regions known to be dysfunctional in depression. We further confirmed the reversal of these aberrant activations with SSRI intervention.

scholarly journals Altered Reward Processing in Abstinent Dependent Cannabis Users: Social Context Matters

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaeli Zimmermann ◽  
Keith M. Kendrick ◽  
Dirk Scheele ◽  
Wolfgang Dau ◽  
Markus Banger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Drugs Of Abuse ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Cannabis Dependence ◽  
The Social ◽  
Medical Benefits ◽  
Lifetime Exposure

ABSTRACTPublic perception of cannabis as relatively harmless, alongside claimed medical benefits, have led to moves towards its legalization. Yet, long-term consequences of cannabis dependence, and whether they differ qualitatively from other drugs, are still poorly understood. A key feature of addictive drugs is that chronic use leads to adaptations in reward processing, blunting responsivity to the substance itself and other rewarding stimuli. Against this background, the present study investigated whether cannabis dependence is associated with reductions in hedonic representations by measuring behavioral and neural responses to social reward in 23 abstinent cannabis-dependent men and 24 matched non-using controls. In an interpersonal pleasant touch fMRI paradigm, participants were led to believe they were in physical closeness of or touched (CLOSE, TOUCH) by either a male or female experimenter (MALE, FEMALE), allowing the assessment of touch- and social context-dependent (i.e. female compared to male social interaction) reward dynamics.Upon female compared to male touch, dependent cannabis users displayed a significantly attenuated increase of reward experience compared to healthy controls. Controls responded to female as compared to male interaction with increased striatal activation whereas cannabis users displayed the opposite activation pattern, with stronger alterations being associated with a higher lifetime exposure to cannabis. Neural processing of pleasant touch in dependent cannabis users remained intact.These findings demonstrate that cannabis dependence in men is linked to similar lasting neuroadaptations in striatal responsivity to hedonic stimuli as observed for other drugs of abuse. However, reward processing deficits seem to depend on the social context.

scholarly journals Blunted Reward Sensitivity and Trait Disinhibition Interact to Predict Substance Use Problems

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 1109-1124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keanan J. Joyner ◽  
Colin B. Bowyer ◽  
James R. Yancey ◽  
Noah C. Venables ◽  
Jens Foell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Substance Dependence ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Reward Sensitivity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Reward Positivity ◽  
New Information ◽  
Cross Sectional Design ◽  
And Gender

Reward-deficit models of addiction posit weaknesses in reward sensitivity to be promotive of substance dependence, whereas the externalizing spectrum model views substance problems as arising in large part from a general disinhibitory liability. In the current study we sought to integrate these perspectives by testing for separate and interactive associations of disinhibition and reward dysfunction with interview-assessed substance use disorders (SUDs). Community and college adults ( N = 199) completed a scale measure of trait disinhibition and performed a gambling-feedback task yielding a neural index of reward sensitivity, the “Reward Positivity” (RewP). Disinhibition and blunted RewP independently predicted SUDs and also operated synergistically, such that participants—in particular, men—with high levels of disinhibition together with blunted RewP exhibited especially severe substance problems. Though limited by its cross-sectional design, this work provides new information about the interplay of disinhibition, reward processing, and gender in SUDs and suggests important directions for future research.

Imaging the “social brain” in schizophrenia: A systematic review of neuroimaging studies of social reward and punishment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Mow ◽  
Arti Gandhi ◽  
Daniel Fulford
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Interaction Network ◽  
Social Motivation ◽  
Social Impairment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽  
Reward And Punishment

Decreased social functioning and high levels of loneliness and social isolation are common in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), contributing to reduced quality of life. One key contributor to social impairment is low social motivation, which may stem from aberrant neural processing of socially rewarding or punishing stimuli. To summarize research on the neurobiology of social motivation in SSD, we performed a systematic literature review of neuroimaging studies involving the presentation of social stimuli intended to elicit feelings of reward and/or punishment. Across 11 studies meeting criteria, people with SSD demonstrated weaker modulation of brain activity in regions within a proposed social interaction network, including prefrontal, cingulate, and striatal regions, as well as the amygdala and insula. Firm conclusions regarding neural differences in SSD in these regions, as well as connections within networks, are limited due to conceptual and methodological inconsistencies across the available studies. We conclude by making recommendations for the study of social reward and punishment processing in SSD in future research.

scholarly journals Neural responses to negative outcomes predict success in community-based substance use treatment

Addiction ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 884-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Forster ◽  
Peter R. Finn ◽  
Joshua W. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Substance Use Treatment ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Community Based

scholarly journals Social reward processing: A biomarker for predicting psychosis risk?

2020 ◽  
Vol 226 ◽  
pp. 129-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Pelletier-Baldelli ◽  
Joseph M. Orr ◽  
Jessica A. Bernard ◽  
Vijay A. Mittal
Keyword(s):  
Reward Processing ◽  
Social Reward ◽  
Psychosis Risk

scholarly journals Sex Differences in Substance Use Disorders: A Neurobiological Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Cornish ◽  
Asheeta A. Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Clinical Studies ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Neural Structure ◽  
Patterns Of Use ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Advance Knowledge

Clinical studies provide fundamental knowledge of substance use behaviors (substance of abuse, patterns of use, relapse rates). The combination of neuroimaging approaches reveal correlation between substance use disorder (SUD) and changes in neural structure, function, and neurotransmission. Here, we review these advances, placing special emphasis on sex specific findings from structural neuroimaging studies of those dependent on alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, psychostimulants, or opioids. Recent clinical studies in SUD analyzing sex differences reveal neurobiological changes that are differentially impacted in common reward processing regions such as the striatum, hippocampus, amygdala, insula, and corpus collosum. We reflect on the contribution of sex hormones, period of drug use and abstinence, and the potential impact of these factors on the interpretation of the reported findings. With the overall recognition that SUD impacts the brains of females and males differentially, it is of fundamental importance that future research is designed with sex as a variable of study in this field. Improved understanding of neurobiological changes in males and females in SUD will advance knowledge underlying sex-specific susceptibility and the neurobiological impact in these disorders. Together these findings will inform future treatments that are tailor designed for improved efficacy in females and males with SUD.

scholarly journals Dissociable oscillatory networks support gain and loss processing in human orbitofrontal cortex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Saez ◽  
Jack Lin ◽  
Edward Chang ◽  
Josef Parvizi ◽  
Robert T. Knight ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Neural Oscillations ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Neuronal Ensembles ◽  
Gain And Loss

AbstractHuman neuroimaging and animal studies have linked neural activity in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to valuation of positive and negative outcomes. Additional evidence shows that neural oscillations, representing the coordinated activity of neuronal ensembles, support information processing in both animal and human prefrontal regions. However, the role of OFC neural oscillations in reward-processing in humans remains unknown, partly due to the difficulty of recording oscillatory neural activity from deep brain regions. Here, we examined the role of OFC neural oscillations (<30Hz) in reward processing by combining intracranial OFC recordings with a gambling task in which patients made economic decisions under uncertainty. Our results show that power in different oscillatory bands are associated with distinct components of reward evaluation. Specifically, we observed a double dissociation, with a selective theta band oscillation increase in response to monetary gains and a beta band increase in response to losses. These effects were interleaved across OFC in overlapping networks and were accompanied by increases in oscillatory coherence between OFC electrode sites in theta and beta band during gain and loss processing, respectively. These results provide evidence that gain and loss processing in human OFC are supported by distinct low-frequency oscillations in networks, and provide evidence that participating neuronal ensembles are organized functionally through oscillatory coherence, rather than local anatomical segregation.

scholarly journals Difficulties when using video playback to investigate social cognition in California scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica)

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina F. Brecht ◽  
Ljerka Ostojić ◽  
Edward W. Legg ◽  
Nicola S. Clayton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Video Playback ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Aphelocoma Californica ◽  
Social Agents ◽  
Protection Strategies ◽  
Cache Protection

Previous research has suggested that videos can be used to experimentally manipulate social stimuli. In the present study, we used the California scrub-jays’ cache protection strategies to assess whether video playback can be used to simulate conspecifics in a social context. In both the lab and the field, scrub-jays are known to exhibit a range of behaviours to protect their caches from potential pilferage by a conspecific, for example by hiding food in locations out of the observer’s view or by re-caching previously made caches once the observer has left. Here, we presented scrub-jays with videos of a conspecific observer as well as two non-social conditions during a caching period and assessed whether they would cache out of the observer’s “view” (Experiment 1) or would re-cache their caches once the observer was no longer present (Experiment 2). In contrast to previous studies using live observers, the scrub-jays’ caching and re-caching behaviour was not influenced by whether the observer was present or absent. These findings suggest that there might be limitations in using video playback of social agents to mimic real-life situations when investigating corvid decision making.

scholarly journals Peripheral immune cell reactivity and neural response to reward in patients with depression and anhedonia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Costi ◽  
Laurel S. Morris ◽  
Abigail Collins ◽  
Nicolas F. Fernandez ◽  
Manishkumar Patel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mononuclear Cells ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Reward Anticipation ◽  
Peripheral Leukocytes ◽  
Immune Score

AbstractIncreased levels of peripheral cytokines have been previously associated with depression in preclinical and clinical research. Although the precise nature of peripheral immune dysfunction in depression remains unclear, evidence from animal studies points towards a dysregulated response of peripheral leukocytes as a risk factor for stress susceptibility. This study examined dynamic release of inflammatory blood factors from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in depressed patients and associations with neural and behavioral measures of reward processing. Thirty unmedicated patients meeting criteria for unipolar depressive disorder and 21 healthy control volunteers were enrolled. PBMCs were isolated from whole blood and stimulated ex vivo with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Olink multiplex assay was used to analyze a large panel of inflammatory proteins. Participants completed functional magnetic resonance imaging with an incentive flanker task to probe neural responses to reward anticipation, as well as clinical measures of anhedonia and pleasure including the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) and the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS). LPS stimulation revealed larger increases in immune factors in depressed compared to healthy subjects using an aggregate immune score (t49 = 2.83, p = 0.007). Higher peripheral immune score was associated with reduced neural responses to reward anticipation within the ventral striatum (VS) (r = −0.39, p = 0.01), and with reduced anticipation of pleasure as measured with the TEPS anticipatory sub-score (r = −0.318, p = 0.023). Our study provides new evidence suggesting that dynamic hyper-reactivity of peripheral leukocytes in depressed patients is associated with blunted activation of the brain reward system and lower subjective anticipation of pleasure.

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