Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.07.007
Elizabeth A. Bauer , Samuel E. Cooper , Nicole E. Keller , Josh M. Cisler , Joseph E. Dunsmoor
Background
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by deficits in the ability to retrieve extinction memories, which likely contribute to symptom relapse over time. Adapting a hybrid Pavlovian conditioning and episodic memory paradigm, we examined whether counterconditioning produces a more stable and persistent long-term neural memory trace of safety compared with standard extinction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)—a region associated with the learning and retrieval of safety.
Methods
Participants consisted of 32 individuals (27 female) who met diagnostic criteria for PTSD and 21 healthy (13 female) comparison participants. Participants completed a multiday Pavlovian conditioning and episodic memory paradigm with standard extinction/counterconditioning.
Results
In healthy adults, we identified overlapping multivariate patterns of functional magnetic resonance imaging activity in the vmPFC associated with the formation and 24-hour retrieval of stimuli that underwent counterconditioning, but neural reinstatement diminished after ∼1 month. This pattern was reversed in PTSD, such that neural reinstatement of counterconditioning was not observed the day after safety learning but did emerge a month later. Interestingly, participants with PTSD showed reinstatement of standard extinction memories in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex—a region associated with learning and retrieval of threat—both 24 hours and 1 month after safety learning.
Conclusions
These results provide the first evidence that counterconditioning may stabilize a long-term safety memory trace in PTSD. These effects seem to emerge over longer time scales, suggesting that counterconditioning could be an effective strategy for sustained treatment gains.
{"title":"Encoding-Retrieval Similarity Reveals Distinct Neural Reinstatement of Safety Memories Following Counterconditioning in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder","authors":"Elizabeth A. Bauer , Samuel E. Cooper , Nicole E. Keller , Josh M. Cisler , Joseph E. Dunsmoor","doi":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.07.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.07.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by deficits in the ability to retrieve extinction memories, which likely contribute to symptom relapse over time. Adapting a hybrid Pavlovian conditioning and episodic memory paradigm, we examined whether counterconditioning produces a more stable and persistent long-term neural memory trace of safety compared with standard extinction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)—a region associated with the learning and retrieval of safety.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Participants consisted of 32 individuals (27 female) who met diagnostic criteria for PTSD and 21 healthy (13 female) comparison participants. Participants completed a multiday Pavlovian conditioning and episodic memory paradigm with standard extinction/counterconditioning.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>In healthy adults, we identified overlapping multivariate patterns of functional magnetic resonance imaging activity in the vmPFC associated with the formation and 24-hour retrieval of stimuli that underwent counterconditioning, but neural reinstatement diminished after ∼1 month. This pattern was reversed in PTSD, such that neural reinstatement of counterconditioning was not observed the day after safety learning but did emerge a month later. Interestingly, participants with PTSD showed reinstatement of standard extinction memories in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex—a region associated with learning and retrieval of threat—both 24 hours and 1 month after safety learning.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These results provide the first evidence that counterconditioning may stabilize a long-term safety memory trace in PTSD. These effects seem to emerge over longer time scales, suggesting that counterconditioning could be an effective strategy for sustained treatment gains.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54231,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging","volume":"10 11","pages":"Pages 1125-1133"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144762670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.04.013
Martin Trøstheim , Mads Lund Pedersen , Siri Leknes , Lennja Majid Hama , Mathias Nikolai Roland , Philipp Paul Lobmaier , Kristin Klemmetsby Solli , Bente M. Weimand , Lars Tanum , Marie Eikemo
Background
Disrupted reward processing is a core component in neurobiological theories of addictions, including opioid use disorder (OUD). While acute opioid agonist and antagonist administration can modulate reward behavior and experiences, it remains unclear how typical long-term OUD treatment with these medications impacts patients’ sensitivity to substance-free rewards. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional study of reward sensitivity in opioid agonist– and antagonist–treated patients with OUD and healthy volunteers.
Methods
Ninety-six patients with OUD on extended-release naltrexone (n = 45) or opioid agonists (n = 51) and 50 healthy volunteers completed a probabilistic reward task (PRT) and self-report measures of anhedonia, depression, preoccupation with immediate consequences, substance craving, and life satisfaction in a single session. We used signal detection analysis and drift diffusion modeling to derive behavioral reward bias measures from PRT performance. Group differences were modeled with beta and linear regression.
Results
Patients reported significantly greater anhedonia (Cohen’s ds ≥ 0.64), depression (ds ≥ 0.53), and preoccupation with immediate consequences (ds ≥ 0.54) than healthy volunteers, but differences between naltrexone- and opioid agonist–treated patients were nonsignificant (ds ≤ 0.26). Group differences in behavioral reward bias were small and nonsignificant (ps = 1, Bayes factor [BF]01s ≥ 84.13). Anhedonia was significantly associated with lower life satisfaction (odds ratio [95% CI], 1.10 [1.04 to 1.17]). There were no other significant associations between reward sensitivity measures and life satisfaction or craving (ps ≥ .31, BF01s ≥ 2.58).
Conclusions
These data support an association between OUD and reduced well-being irrespective of opioid agonist or antagonist treatment, highlighting patients’ need for psychosocial support and/or adjunct interventions. Major detrimental effects of naltrexone treatment on well-being seem unlikely from these and previous results.
{"title":"Reward Sensitivity in Patients Receiving Opioid Agonist and Antagonist Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: An Observational Study","authors":"Martin Trøstheim , Mads Lund Pedersen , Siri Leknes , Lennja Majid Hama , Mathias Nikolai Roland , Philipp Paul Lobmaier , Kristin Klemmetsby Solli , Bente M. Weimand , Lars Tanum , Marie Eikemo","doi":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.04.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.04.013","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Disrupted reward processing is a core component in neurobiological theories of addictions, including opioid use disorder (OUD). While acute opioid agonist and antagonist administration can modulate reward behavior and experiences, it remains unclear how typical long-term OUD treatment with these medications impacts patients’ sensitivity to substance-free rewards. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional study of reward sensitivity in opioid agonist– and antagonist–treated patients with OUD and healthy volunteers.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Ninety-six patients with OUD on extended-release naltrexone (<em>n</em> = 45) or opioid agonists (<em>n</em> = 51) and 50 healthy volunteers completed a probabilistic reward task (PRT) and self-report measures of anhedonia, depression, preoccupation with immediate consequences, substance craving, and life satisfaction in a single session. We used signal detection analysis and drift diffusion modeling to derive behavioral reward bias measures from PRT performance. Group differences were modeled with beta and linear regression.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Patients reported significantly greater anhedonia (Cohen’s <em>d</em>s ≥ 0.64), depression (<em>d</em>s ≥ 0.53), and preoccupation with immediate consequences (<em>d</em>s ≥ 0.54) than healthy volunteers, but differences between naltrexone- and opioid agonist–treated patients were nonsignificant (<em>d</em>s ≤ 0.26). Group differences in behavioral reward bias were small and nonsignificant (<em>p</em>s = 1, Bayes factor [BF]<sub>01</sub>s ≥ 84.13). Anhedonia was significantly associated with lower life satisfaction (odds ratio [95% CI], 1.10 [1.04 to 1.17]). There were no other significant associations between reward sensitivity measures and life satisfaction or craving (<em>p</em>s ≥ .31, BF<sub>01</sub>s ≥ 2.58).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These data support an association between OUD and reduced well-being irrespective of opioid agonist or antagonist treatment, highlighting patients’ need for psychosocial support and/or adjunct interventions. Major detrimental effects of naltrexone treatment on well-being seem unlikely from these and previous results.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54231,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging","volume":"10 11","pages":"Pages 1166-1176"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144056085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.07.006
Lachlan Webb , Luke J. Hearne , Ye E. Tian , Andrew Zalesky , Conor Robinson , Caitlin V. Hall , Saurabh Sonkusare , Bjorn Burgher , Michael Breakspear , Garance M. Meyer , Andreas Horn , Sebastien Naze , Philip Mosley , Luca Cocchi
Background
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with functional alterations in how the striatum interacts with the rest of the brain. However, the characterization of these changes in OCD is incomplete. Mapping functional striatal gradients provides a new opportunity to fill this knowledge gap. These gradients provide a spatial representation of continuous changes in whole-brain connectivity within striatal regions. Thus, OCD-related differences in striatal gradients imply changes in the functional organization of striatal connections.
Methods
We calculated spatial striatal gradients linked to whole-brain activity in 52 people with OCD and 45 control participants. Gradients were computed with individuals at rest and when they underwent a threat-safety reversal task. Using a longitudinal dataset of 47 people with OCD, we investigated possible associations between changes in striatal gradient topology and fluctuations in symptom severity.
Results
Results showed group differences in the main gradient topology at rest, specifically in striatal regions that overlap with the putamen and caudate. Individuals who showed a reduction in symptoms over time tended to change their gradient topology in favor of the control participants’ average topology. Finally, gradients linked to the appraisal of safety reversal, but not threat reversal, showed a group difference in a region separating the right nucleus accumbens and the putamen.
Conclusions
This study advances knowledge of striatal connectivity profiles in OCD, supporting a core role of distinct changes in striatal topology in the expression of symptoms. Collectively, these results encourage studies assessing neural mechanisms that drive the dynamic reorganization of striatal topology and the development of therapies that leverage striatocortical plasticity.
{"title":"Altered Striatal Functional Gradients in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder","authors":"Lachlan Webb , Luke J. Hearne , Ye E. Tian , Andrew Zalesky , Conor Robinson , Caitlin V. Hall , Saurabh Sonkusare , Bjorn Burgher , Michael Breakspear , Garance M. Meyer , Andreas Horn , Sebastien Naze , Philip Mosley , Luca Cocchi","doi":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.07.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.07.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with functional alterations in how the striatum interacts with the rest of the brain. However, the characterization of these changes in OCD is incomplete. Mapping functional striatal gradients provides a new opportunity to fill this knowledge gap. These gradients provide a spatial representation of continuous changes in whole-brain connectivity within striatal regions. Thus, OCD-related differences in striatal gradients imply changes in the functional organization of striatal connections.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We calculated spatial striatal gradients linked to whole-brain activity in 52 people with OCD and 45 control participants. Gradients were computed with individuals at rest and when they underwent a threat-safety reversal task. Using a longitudinal dataset of 47 people with OCD, we investigated possible associations between changes in striatal gradient topology and fluctuations in symptom severity.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Results showed group differences in the main gradient topology at rest, specifically in striatal regions that overlap with the putamen and caudate. Individuals who showed a reduction in symptoms over time tended to change their gradient topology in favor of the control participants’ average topology. Finally, gradients linked to the appraisal of safety reversal, but not threat reversal, showed a group difference in a region separating the right nucleus accumbens and the putamen.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>This study advances knowledge of striatal connectivity profiles in OCD, supporting a core role of distinct changes in striatal topology in the expression of symptoms. Collectively, these results encourage studies assessing neural mechanisms that drive the dynamic reorganization of striatal topology and the development of therapies that leverage striatocortical plasticity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54231,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging","volume":"10 11","pages":"Pages 1134-1142"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144736005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.09.009
Kai Zhang, Lihan Cui, Mohammed R. Milad
{"title":"Trading Fear for Safety","authors":"Kai Zhang, Lihan Cui, Mohammed R. Milad","doi":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.09.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.09.009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54231,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging","volume":"10 11","pages":"Pages 1109-1111"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145435668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.07.010
Jonathon R. Howlett , Heekyeong Park , Martin P. Paulus
Background
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized not only by its direct association with traumatic events but also by a potential deficit in inhibitory control across emotional, cognitive, and sensorimotor domains. Recent research has shown that a continuous sensorimotor feedback control task, the rapid assessment of motor processing paradigm, can yield reliable measures of individual sensorimotor control performance. This study used this paradigm to investigate control deficits in PTSD compared with both a healthy volunteer group and a non-PTSD psychiatric comparison group.
Methods
We examined control processing using the rapid assessment of motor processing paradigm in a sample of 40 individuals with PTSD, matched groups of 40 individuals with mood and anxiety complaints, and 40 healthy control participants. We estimated Kp (drive) and Kd (damping) parameters using a proportional-derivative control modeling approach.
Results
The Kp parameter was lower in the PTSD group than in the healthy control (Cohen’s d = 0.86) and mood and anxiety (Cohen’s d = 0.63) groups. After controlling for color-word inhibition, Kp remained lower in the PTSD group than in the healthy control (Cohen’s d = 0.79) and mood and anxiety (Cohen’s d = 0.62) groups. Mediation analysis showed that Kd significantly mediated the relationship between PTSD and control deficits in the Kp parameter, with 96% of the effect being mediated by Kd.
Conclusions
These findings underscore the potential of using dynamic control paradigms to elucidate the control dysfunctions in PTSD and suggest that different psychiatric conditions may distinctly influence subcomponents of sensorimotor control.
背景:创伤后应激障碍(PTSD创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)的特点不仅在于它与创伤事件的直接联系,还在于它在情绪、认知和感觉运动领域的抑制控制方面可能存在缺陷。最近的研究表明,一种连续的感觉运动反馈控制任务--运动处理快速评估(RAMP)范式--可以对个体的感觉运动控制表现进行可靠的测量。本研究利用该范式调查了创伤后应激障碍患者相对于健康志愿者和非创伤后应激障碍精神疾病对比组的控制缺陷:方法:我们使用 RAMP 范式对 40 名创伤后应激障碍患者以及 40 名情绪和焦虑(MA)症状患者和 40 名健康对照组(HC)进行了控制处理研究。我们使用比例-衍生(PD)控制模型方法估算了Kp(驱动)和Kd(阻尼)参数:结果:与 HC 组(Cohen's d = 0.86)和 MA 组(Cohen's d = 0.63)相比,创伤后应激障碍组的 Kp 参数较低。在对颜色词抑制进行控制后,创伤后应激障碍组的 Kp 仍低于 HC 组(Cohen's d = 0.79)和 MA 组(Cohen's d = 0.62)。中介分析表明,Kd对创伤后应激障碍与Kp参数控制缺陷之间的关系有明显的中介作用,96%的影响由Kd中介:这些发现强调了使用动态控制范式来阐明创伤后应激障碍中的控制功能障碍的潜力,并表明不同的精神疾病可能会对感觉运动控制的子组件产生不同的影响。
{"title":"Sensorimotor Feedback Control Dysfunction as a Marker of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder","authors":"Jonathon R. Howlett , Heekyeong Park , Martin P. Paulus","doi":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.07.010","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.07.010","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div><span>Posttraumatic stress disorder<span> (PTSD) is characterized not only by its direct association with traumatic events<span> but also by a potential deficit in inhibitory control across emotional, cognitive, and sensorimotor domains. Recent research has shown that a continuous sensorimotor feedback control task, the rapid assessment of motor processing paradigm, can yield reliable measures of individual </span></span></span>sensorimotor control performance. This study used this paradigm to investigate control deficits in PTSD compared with both a healthy volunteer group and a non-PTSD psychiatric comparison group.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We examined control processing using the rapid assessment of motor processing paradigm in a sample of 40 individuals with PTSD, matched groups of 40 individuals with mood and anxiety complaints, and 40 healthy control participants. We estimated <em>K</em><sub><em>p</em></sub> (drive) and <em>K</em><sub><em>d</em></sub> (damping) parameters using a proportional-derivative control modeling approach.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The <em>K</em><sub><em>p</em></sub> parameter was lower in the PTSD group than in the healthy control (Cohen’s <em>d</em> = 0.86) and mood and anxiety (Cohen’s <em>d</em> = 0.63) groups. After controlling for color-word inhibition, <em>K</em><sub><em>p</em></sub> remained lower in the PTSD group than in the healthy control (Cohen’s <em>d</em> = 0.79) and mood and anxiety (Cohen’s <em>d</em><span> = 0.62) groups. Mediation analysis showed that </span><em>K</em><sub><em>d</em></sub> significantly mediated the relationship between PTSD and control deficits in the <em>K</em><sub><em>p</em></sub> parameter, with 96% of the effect being mediated by <em>K</em><sub><em>d</em></sub>.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These findings underscore the potential of using dynamic control paradigms to elucidate the control dysfunctions in PTSD and suggest that different psychiatric conditions may distinctly influence subcomponents of sensorimotor control.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54231,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging","volume":"10 11","pages":"Pages 1117-1124"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141763220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.09.008
Vanessa M. Brown
{"title":"Does Reward Insensitivity in Anhedonia Result From Limitations in Cognitive Capacity?","authors":"Vanessa M. Brown","doi":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.09.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.09.008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54231,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging","volume":"10 11","pages":"Pages 1112-1113"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145435669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.05.011
Bilal A. Bari , Andrew D. Krystal , Diego A. Pizzagalli , Samuel J. Gershman
Background
Anhedonia, the loss of pleasure, is prevalent and impairing. Parsing its computational basis promises to explain its transdiagnostic character. One manifestation of anhedonia, reward insensitivity, may be linked to limited memory. Furthermore, the need to economize on limited memory engenders a perseverative bias toward frequently chosen actions. Anhedonia may also be linked with deviations from optimal perseveration for a given memory capacity, a pattern that causes inefficiency because it results in less reward for the same memory cost.
Methods
To test these hypotheses, we applied a theory of optimal decision making under memory constraints that decomposes behavior into a memory component and an efficiency component. We applied this theory to behavior on the Probabilistic Reward Task, a reward learning paradigm that has been validated in anhedonia, and performed secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial testing kappa opioid receptor (KOR) antagonism for anhedonia (n = 24 KOR; n = 31 placebo), as well as analyses of 3 other datasets (n = 100, 66, 24, respectively). We fit a resource-bounded reinforcement learning model to behavior.
Results
Across clinical and nonclinical populations, anhedonia was associated with deficits in efficiency but not memory. The reinforcement learning models demonstrated that deficits in efficiency arise from the inability to perseverate optimally. KOR antagonism, which likely elevates tonic dopamine, increases both memory and efficiency, and the model demonstrated that this arises from increased reward sensitivity and perseveration.
Conclusions
Therefore, KOR antagonism has distinct cognitive effects, only one related to anhedonia. These findings have potential implications for the applications of KOR antagonists.
{"title":"Computationally Informed Insights Into Anhedonia and Treatment by Kappa Opioid Receptor Antagonism","authors":"Bilal A. Bari , Andrew D. Krystal , Diego A. Pizzagalli , Samuel J. Gershman","doi":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.05.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.05.011","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Anhedonia, the loss of pleasure, is prevalent and impairing. Parsing its computational basis promises to explain its transdiagnostic character. One manifestation of anhedonia, reward insensitivity, may be linked to limited memory. Furthermore, the need to economize on limited memory engenders a perseverative bias toward frequently chosen actions. Anhedonia may also be linked with deviations from optimal perseveration for a given memory capacity, a pattern that causes inefficiency because it results in less reward for the same memory cost.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>To test these hypotheses, we applied a theory of optimal decision making under memory constraints that decomposes behavior into a memory component and an efficiency component. We applied this theory to behavior on the Probabilistic Reward Task, a reward learning paradigm that has been validated in anhedonia, and performed secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial testing kappa opioid receptor (KOR) antagonism for anhedonia (<em>n</em> = 24 KOR; <em>n</em> = 31 placebo), as well as analyses of 3 other datasets (<em>n</em> = 100, 66, 24, respectively). We fit a resource-bounded reinforcement learning model to behavior.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Across clinical and nonclinical populations, anhedonia was associated with deficits in efficiency but not memory. The reinforcement learning models demonstrated that deficits in efficiency arise from the inability to perseverate optimally. KOR antagonism, which likely elevates tonic dopamine, increases both memory and efficiency, and the model demonstrated that this arises from increased reward sensitivity and perseveration.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Therefore, KOR antagonism has distinct cognitive effects, only one related to anhedonia. These findings have potential implications for the applications of KOR antagonists.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54231,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging","volume":"10 11","pages":"Pages 1177-1185"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144188676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}