Craving love? Enduring grief activates brain's reward center.
Title | Craving love? Enduring grief activates brain's reward center. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2008 |
Authors | O'Connor M-F, Wellisch DK, Stanton AL, Eisenberger NI, Irwin MR, Lieberman MD |
Journal | Neuroimage |
Volume | 42 |
Issue | 2 |
Pagination | 969-72 |
Date Published | 2008 Aug 15 |
ISSN | 1095-9572 |
Keywords | Adaptation, Physiological, Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Brain, Grief, Humans, Male, Reward, Task Performance and Analysis |
Abstract | Complicated Grief (CG) occurs when an individual experiences prolonged, unabated grief. The neural mechanisms distinguishing CG from Noncomplicated Grief (NCG) are unclear, but hypothesized mechanisms include both pain-related activity (related to the social pain of loss) and reward-related activity (related to attachment behavior). Bereaved women (11 CG, 12 NCG) participated in an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, during grief elicitation with idiographic stimuli. Analyses revealed that whereas both CG and NCG participants showed pain-related neural activity in response to reminders of the deceased, only those with CG showed reward-related activity in the nucleus accumbens (NA). This NA cluster was positively correlated with self-reported yearning, but not with time since death, participant age, or positive/negative affect. This study supports the hypothesis that attachment activates reward pathways. For those with CG, reminders of the deceased still activate neural reward activity, which may interfere with adapting to the loss in the present. |
DOI | 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.04.256 |
Alternate Journal | Neuroimage |
PubMed ID | 18559294 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC2553561 |
Grant List | K01 AG028404 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States K01 AG028404-01A1 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States M01 RR000865 / RR / NCRR NIH HHS / United States M01 RR000865-358141 / RR / NCRR NIH HHS / United States P30 AG028748 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States P30 AG028748-049004 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R01 AG026364 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R01 AG026364-05 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R01 CA119159 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States R01 CA119159-04 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States R01 HL079955 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States R01 HL079955-04 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States T32 MH019925 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States T32 MH019925-08 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States T32 MH019925-09 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States T32 MH019925-10 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States T32 MH019925-12 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States T32-MH19925 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States |