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Sailer U, Wurm F, Pfabigan DM. Social and non-social feedback stimuli lead to comparable levels of reward learning and reward responsiveness in an online probabilistic reward task. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:5161-5177. [PMID: 37845425 PMCID: PMC11289059 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02255-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/23/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
Social stimuli seem to be processed more easily and efficiently than non-social stimuli. The current study tested whether social feedback stimuli improve reward learning in a probabilistic reward task (PRT), in which one response option is usually rewarded more often than the other via presentation of non-social reward stimuli. In a pre-registered online study with 305 participants, 75 participants were presented with a non-social feedback stimulus (a star) and information about gains, which is typically used in published PRT studies. Three other groups (with 73-82 participants each) were presented with one of three social feedback stimuli: verbal praise, an attractive happy face, or a "thumbs up"-picture. The data were analysed based on classical signal detection theory, drift diffusion modelling, and Bayesian analyses of null effects. All PRT variants yielded the expected behavioural preference for the more frequently rewarded response. There was no processing advantage of social over non-social feedback stimuli. Bayesian analyses further supported the observation that social feedback stimuli neither increased nor decreased behavioural preferences in the PRT. The current findings suggest that the PRT is a robust experimental paradigm independent of the applied feedback stimuli. They also suggest that the occurrence of a processing advantage for social feedback stimuli is dependent on the experimental task and design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uta Sailer
- Department of Behavioural Medicine, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Sognsvannsveien 9, 0372, Oslo, Norway
| | - Franz Wurm
- Department of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, 2333 AK, The Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, 2333 AK, The Netherlands
| | - Daniela M Pfabigan
- Department of Behavioural Medicine, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Sognsvannsveien 9, 0372, Oslo, Norway.
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Jonas Lies vei 91, 5009, Bergen, Norway.
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Gui DY, Dai Y, Zheng Z, Liu S. Losing control without your smartphone: Anxiety affects the dynamic choice process of impulsive decision-making and purchase. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:998017. [PMID: 37008213 PMCID: PMC10060825 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.998017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Different interacting contexts influence the decision-making process, as revealed by the computational modeling. Through four studies, we investigated how smartphone addiction and anxiety influenced impulsive behaviors, along with the underlying psychological mechanisms and dynamic decision-making processes. In the first and second studies, we found no significant correlation between smartphone addiction and impulsive behavior. However, in the third study, we found that smartphone separation increased impulsive decision-making and purchases, and state anxiety, but not trait anxiety, mediated this effect. We explored the dynamic decision-making process using a multi-attribute drift diffusion model (DDM). The results showed that anxiety triggered by smartphone separation changed the trade-offs between decision weights for the fundamental components of the dynamic choice process. In the fourth study, we investigated why smartphone addiction led to increased anxiety and found that extended-self was a mediating factor. Our findings show that smartphone addiction was not correlated with impulsive behaviors, but was correlated with state anxiety in the context of smartphone separation. Further, this study shows how emotional states triggered by different interacting contexts affect the dynamic decision-making process and consumer behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan-Yang Gui
- Department of Marketing, College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yu Dai
- Department of Marketing, College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zhichao Zheng
- Department of Marketing, College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Shixiong Liu
- Department of Marketing, College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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Finan PH, Letzen J, Epstein DH, Mun CJ, Stull S, Kowalczyk WJ, Agage D, Phillips KA, Pizzagalli DA, Preston KL. Reward Responsiveness in Patients with Opioid Use Disorder on Opioid Agonist Treatment: Role of Comorbid Chronic Pain. PAIN MEDICINE 2021; 22:2019-2027. [PMID: 33624802 DOI: 10.1093/pm/pnab031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Evidence suggests that blunted reward responsiveness may account for poor clinical outcomes in both opioid use disorder (OUD) and chronic pain. Understanding how individuals with OUD and comorbid chronic pain (OUD+CP) respond to rewards is, therefore, of clinical interest because it may reveal a potential point of behavioral intervention. METHODS Patients with OUD (n = 28) and OUD+CP (n = 19) on opioid agonist treatment were compared on: 1) the Probabilistic Reward Task (an objective behavioral measure of reward response bias) and 2) ecological momentary assessment of affective responses to pleasurable events. RESULTS Both the OUD and the OUD+CP groups evidenced an increase in reward response bias in the Probabilistic Reward Task. The rate of change in response bias across blocks was statistically significant in the OUD group (B = 0.06, standard error [SE] = 0.02, t = 3.92, P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.03 to 0.09) but not in the OUD+CP group (B = 0.03, SE = 0.02, t = 1.90, P = 0.07, 95% CI: -0.002 to 0.07). However, groups did not significantly differ in the rate of change in response bias across blocks (B = 0.03, SE = 0.02, t = 1.21, P = 0.23, 95% CI: -0.02 to 0.07). Groups did not significantly differ on state measures of reward responsiveness (P's ≥0.50). CONCLUSIONS Overall, findings across objective and subjective measures were mixed, necessitating follow-up with a larger sample. The results suggest that although there is a reward response bias in patients with OUD+CP treated with opioid agonist treatment relative to patients with OUD without CP, it is modest and does not appear to translate into patients' responses to rewarding events as they unfold in daily life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick H Finan
- School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Janelle Letzen
- School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - David H Epstein
- Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Chung Jung Mun
- School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Samuel Stull
- Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - William J Kowalczyk
- Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Daniel Agage
- Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Karran A Phillips
- Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland
| | | | - Kenzie L Preston
- Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland
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Stull SW, Bertz JW, Panlilio LV, Kowalczyk WJ, Phillips KA, Moran LM, Lin JL, Vahabzadeh M, Finan PH, Preston KL, Epstein DH. I feel good? Anhedonia might not mean "without pleasure" for people treated for opioid use disorder. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 130:537-549. [PMID: 34472889 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Anhedonia is usually defined as partial or total loss of the capacity for pleasure. People with anhedonia in the context of major depressive disorder may have an unexpected capacity for event-related mood brightening, observable when mood is assessed dynamically (with smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment [EMA]) rather than only statically via questionnaire. We used EMA to monitor mood and pleasant events for 4 weeks in 54 people being treated with opioid agonist medication for opioid-use disorder (OUD), which is also associated with anhedonia, said to manifest especially as loss of pleasure from nondrug reward. We compared OUD patients' EMA reports with those of 47 demographically similar controls. Background positive mood was lower in OUD patients than in controls, as we hypothesized (Cohen ds = .85 to 1.32, 95% CIs [.66, 1.55]), although, contrary to our hypothesis, background negative mood was also lower (ds = .82 to .85, 95% CIs [.73, .94]). As hypothesized, instances of nondrug pleasure were as frequent in OUD patients as in controls-and were not rated much less pleasurable (d = .18, 95% CI [-.03, .35]). Event-related mood brightening occurred in both abstinent and nonabstinent OUD patients (ds = .18 to .37, CIs [-.01, .57]) and controls (ds = .04 to .60, CIs [-.17, .79]), brightening before each event began earlier for controls than OUD patients, but faded similarly postevent across groups. Our findings add to the evidence that anhedonia does not rule out reactive mood brightening, which, for people with OUD being treated on opioid agonist medication, can be elicited by nondrug activities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Abstract
This paper is the forty-second consecutive installment of the annual anthological review of research concerning the endogenous opioid system, summarizing articles published during 2019 that studied the behavioral effects of molecular, pharmacological and genetic manipulation of opioid peptides and receptors as well as effects of opioid/opiate agonists and antagonists. The review is subdivided into the following specific topics: molecular-biochemical effects and neurochemical localization studies of endogenous opioids and their receptors (1), the roles of these opioid peptides and receptors in pain and analgesia in animals (2) and humans (3), opioid-sensitive and opioid-insensitive effects of nonopioid analgesics (4), opioid peptide and receptor involvement in tolerance and dependence (5), stress and social status (6), learning and memory (7), eating and drinking (8), drug abuse and alcohol (9), sexual activity and hormones, pregnancy, development and endocrinology (10), mental illness and mood (11), seizures and neurologic disorders (12), electrical-related activity and neurophysiology (13), general activity and locomotion (14), gastrointestinal, renal and hepatic functions (15), cardiovascular responses (16), respiration and thermoregulation (17), and immunological responses (18).
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard J Bodnar
- Department of Psychology and Neuropsychology Doctoral Sub-Program, Queens College, City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY, 11367, United States.
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Meier IM, Eikemo M, Leknes S. The Role of Mu-Opioids for Reward and Threat Processing in Humans: Bridging the Gap from Preclinical to Clinical Opioid Drug Studies. CURRENT ADDICTION REPORTS 2021; 8:306-318. [PMID: 34722114 PMCID: PMC8550464 DOI: 10.1007/s40429-021-00366-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Opioid receptors are widely expressed in the human brain. A number of features commonly associated with drug use disorder, such as difficulties in emotional learning, emotion regulation and anhedonia, have been linked to endogenous opioid signalling. Whereas chronic substance use and misuse are thought to alter the function of the mu-opioid system, the specific mechanisms are not well understood. We argue that understanding exogenous and endogenous opioid effects in the healthy human brain is an essential foundation for bridging preclinical and clinical findings related to opioid misuse. Here, we will examine psychopharmacological evidence to outline the role of the mu-opioid receptor (MOR) system in the processing of threat and reward, and discuss how disruption of these processes by chronic opioid use might alter emotional learning and reward responsiveness. RECENT FINDINGS In healthy people, studies using opioid antagonist drugs indicate that the brain's endogenous opioids downregulate fear reactivity and upregulate learning from safety. At the same time, endogenous opioids increase the liking of and motivation to engage with high reward value cues. Studies of acute opioid agonist effects indicate that with non-sedative doses, drugs such as morphine and buprenorphine can mimic endogenous opioid effects on liking and wanting. Disruption of endogenous opioid signalling due to prolonged opioid exposure is associated with some degree of anhedonia to non-drug rewards; however, new results leave open the possibility that this is not directly opioid-mediated. SUMMARY The available human psychopharmacological evidence indicates that the healthy mu-opioid system contributes to the regulation of reward and threat processing. Overall, endogenous opioids can subtly increase liking and wanting responses to a wide variety of rewards, from sweet tastes to feelings of being connected to close others. For threat-related processing, human evidence suggests that endogenous opioids inhibit fear conditioning and reduce the sensitivity to aversive stimuli, although inconsistencies remain. The size of effects reported in healthy humans are however modest, clearly indicating that MORs play out their role in close concert with other neurotransmitter systems. Relevant candidate systems for future research include dopamine, serotonin and endocannabinoid signalling. Nevertheless, it is possible that endogenous opioid fine-tuning of reward and threat processing, when unbalanced by e.g. opioid misuse, could over time develop into symptoms associated with opioid use disorder, such as anhedonia and depression/anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabell M. Meier
- Department of Diagnostic Physics, Oslo University Hospital, Sognsvannsveien 20, 0372 Oslo, Norway
| | - Marie Eikemo
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway
| | - Siri Leknes
- Department of Diagnostic Physics, Oslo University Hospital, Sognsvannsveien 20, 0372 Oslo, Norway
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway
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A mu-opioid feedback model of human social behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 121:250-258. [PMID: 33359094 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 12/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Since the discovery of pain relieving and rewarding properties of opiates such as morphine or heroin, the human mu-opioid system has been a target for medical research on pain processing and addiction. Indeed, pain and pleasure act mutually inhibitory on each other and the mu-opioid system has been suggested as an underlying common neurobiological mechanism. Recently, research interest extended the role of the endogenous mu-opioid system beyond the hedonic value of pain and pleasure towards human social-emotional behavior. Here we propose a mu-opioid feedback model of social behavior. This model is based upon recent findings of opioid modulation of human social learning, bonding and empathy in relation to affiliative and protective tendencies. Fundamental to the model is that the mu-opioid system reinforces socially affiliative or protective behavior in response to positive and negative social experiences with long-term consequences for social behavior and health. The functional implications for stress, anxiety, depression and attachment behaviors are discussed.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Both acute and chronic pain can disrupt reward processing. Moreover, prolonged prescription opioid use and depressed mood are common in chronic pain samples. Despite the prevalence of these risk factors for anhedonia, little is known about anhedonia in chronic pain populations. METHODS We conducted a large-scale, systematic study of anhedonia in chronic pain, focusing on its relationship with opioid use/misuse, pain severity, and depression. Chronic pain patients across four distinct samples (N = 488) completed the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), measures of opioid use, pain severity and depression, as well as the Current Opioid Misuse Measure (COMM). We used a meta-analytic approach to determine reference levels of anhedonia in healthy samples spanning a variety of countries and diverse age groups, extracting SHAPS scores from 58 published studies totaling 2664 psychiatrically healthy participants. RESULTS Compared to healthy samples, chronic pain patients showed higher levels of anhedonia, with ~25% of patients scoring above the standard anhedonia cut-off. This difference was not primarily driven by depression levels, which explained less than 25% of variance in anhedonia scores. Neither opioid use duration, dose, nor pain severity alone was significantly associated with anhedonia. Yet, there was a clear effect of opioid misuse, with opioid misusers (COMM ⩾13) reporting greater anhedonia than non-misusers. Opioid misuse remained a significant predictor of anhedonia even after controlling for pain severity, depression and opioid dose. CONCLUSIONS Study results suggest that both chronic pain and opioid misuse contribute to anhedonia, which may, in turn, drive further pain and misuse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric L Garland
- Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- College of Social Work, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | | | - Marie Eikemo
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
| | - Gernot Ernst
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
- Kongsberg Hospital, Norway
| | - Siri Leknes
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
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Living a normal life? Follow-up study of women who had been in opioid maintenance treatment during pregnancy. J Subst Abuse Treat 2020; 113:108004. [PMID: 32359675 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsat.2020.108004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2019] [Revised: 03/04/2020] [Accepted: 03/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND There are few longitudinal follow-up studies of patients in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT). For this reason we performed a follow-up study of a cohort of 67 women who had used OMT-medications during pregnancy an average of ten years earlier. The aim of our study was to explore how the women were doing over time regarding OMT medication adherence and use of other legal and illegal substances, as well as to evaluate the mortality for the women and custody situation for the children in the cohort. METHODS Participants were recruited from two cohorts in our previous pregnancy study covering women who gave birth from 2004 to 2009. Sixty-seven women agreed to be interviewed, which is 73% of the eligible women from our original study. We developed a questionnaire, which we used in the interview, that focused primarily on these women's current life situation (custody of child they had delivered, the use of medications in OMT and other legal and illegal substances, and several other health and social aspects of the participants' lives). RESULTS Two women had died prior to the follow-up. Eighty-one percent of the women had custody of the child they had delivered in our pregnancy study and half the women were single parents. Fifty-four percent of the women were employed. At follow-up, 42% of the women were in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), 39% were in buprenorphine maintenance treatment (BMT), and 19% had left OMT. One-third of the women had changed their OMT medication during the follow-up period. The majority (77%) were satisfied with their current OMT medication. The women in MMT seemed to be more severe substance dependent than the rest of the participants. There was little use of legal and illegal substances at follow-up, especially among women with custody of their child. The frequency of substance use was low. Fourteen percent of the women were in the process of leaving OMT and another half of the women wanted to leave OMT, but had no plan for how and when. CONCLUSION This follow-up study describes a predominantly well rehabilitated cohort of women who had given birth while in OMT ten years earlier. The majority of the women had custody of their children and used very few legal and illegal drugs. Our findings may be explained partly from a life course perspective, with the women having experienced turning points when starting OMT or becoming mothers.
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