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Journal of Eating Disorders Nov 2022Recent research suggests that anhedonia, or the inability to experience pleasure, is elevated in individuals with eating disorders (EDs). However, past literature has...
BACKGROUND
Recent research suggests that anhedonia, or the inability to experience pleasure, is elevated in individuals with eating disorders (EDs). However, past literature has only studied anhedonia in EDs as a unidimensional construct rather than separately examining anticipatory (i.e., prediction of pleasure for a future event) and consummatory (i.e., enjoyment of a present event) pleasure. Given that these subcomponents of pleasure have distinct neurobiological correlates, studying pleasure as a multifaceted construct may yield important insights into the underlying mechanisms of binge eating or food restriction.
METHODS
A sample of 124 women with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or other specified feeding or eating disorder and 84 control women (CW) completed self-report measures of anticipatory pleasure, consummatory pleasure, ED symptoms, depression, harm avoidance, and anxiety.
RESULTS
Individuals with EDs endorsed significantly lower anticipatory pleasure than CW, but there were no significant group differences in consummatory pleasure. Further, there were no significant differences in self-reported pleasure among ED diagnostic groups. Within the ED sample, anticipatory pleasure but not consummatory pleasure was positively related to binge eating frequency and significantly negatively correlated with cognitive ED symptoms, state and trait anxiety, and harm avoidance. Both anticipatory and consummatory pleasure was negatively associated with depression.
CONCLUSION
The results of the current study suggest that lower pleasure across the ED spectrum may be due to deficits in anticipatory, but not consummatory, pleasure. Future research should continue to explore the behavioral, affective, and neural correlates of anticipatory pleasure in EDs to characterize better how it relates to the onset and maintenance of binge eating and other eating disorder pathology.
PubMed: 36371268
DOI: 10.1186/s40337-022-00692-w -
Journal of Intelligence Nov 2022Insight problems-as a type of ill-defined problems-are often solved without an articulate plan, and finding their solution is accompanied by the Aha! experience...
Insight problems-as a type of ill-defined problems-are often solved without an articulate plan, and finding their solution is accompanied by the Aha! experience (positive feeling from suddenly finding a solution). However, the solution of such problems can also be guided, for example, by expectations in terms of criteria for achieving the goal. We hypothesize that adjusting the expectation accuracy based on the reward prediction error (discrepancy between the reward and its prediction) affects the strength of affective components of the Aha! experience (pleasure and surprise), allowing to learn how to solve similar problems. We manipulated expectation accuracy by varying the similarity in problem solution principle and structure in a short learning set. Each set was followed by a critical problem where both the structure and solution principle were changed (except for control set). Subjective feelings, solution time, and expectation were measured after each problem. The results revealed that problems with similarities become more expected at the end of the set and their solution time is decreased. However, the critical problem featured a rapid increase in pleasure and surprise and decrease in expectedness only in the condition where both the solution principle and structure were expected, suggesting that problem structure is a key feature determining expectedness in insight problem solving. The Aha! experience is not an epiphenomenon; it plays a role in learning of problem solving through adjusting expectations.
PubMed: 36412778
DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence10040098 -
British Dental Journal May 2020
Topics: Anxiety; Humans; Music; Oral Surgical Procedures; Pilot Projects; Pleasure
PubMed: 32444723
DOI: 10.1038/s41415-020-1683-7 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Apr 2022Social touch-the affiliative skin-to-skin contact between individuals-can rapidly evoke emotions of comfort, pleasure, or calm, and is essential for mental and physical... (Review)
Review
Social touch-the affiliative skin-to-skin contact between individuals-can rapidly evoke emotions of comfort, pleasure, or calm, and is essential for mental and physical well-being. Physical isolation from social support can be devastating. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed a global increase in suicidal ideation, anxiety, domestic violence, and worsening of pre-existing physical conditions, alerting society to our need to understand the neurobiology of social touch and how it promotes normal health. Gaining a mechanistic understanding of how sensory neuron stimulation induces pleasure, calm, and analgesia may reveal untapped therapeutic targets in the periphery for treatment of anxiety and depression, as well as social disorders and traumas in which social touch becomes aversive. Bridging the gap between stimulation in the skin and positive affect in the brain-especially during naturally occurring social touch behaviors-remains a challenge to the field. However, with advances in mouse genetics, behavioral quantification, and brain imaging approaches to measure neuronal firing and neurochemical release, completing this mechanistic picture may be on the horizon. Here, we summarize some exciting new findings about social touch in mammals, emphasizing both the peripheral and central nervous systems, with attempts to bridge the gap between external stimulation and internal representations in the brain.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Humans; Mice; Pleasure; Social Behavior; Touch
PubMed: 35453001
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2022.102527 -
Sleep Medicine Mar 2023Cancer survivors have elevated rates of insomnia and depression. Insomnia increases risk for depression onset, and the Integrated Sleep and Reward (ISR) Model suggests...
OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND
Cancer survivors have elevated rates of insomnia and depression. Insomnia increases risk for depression onset, and the Integrated Sleep and Reward (ISR) Model suggests that impairments in reward responding (e.g., ability to anticipate and/or experience pleasure) plays a central role in this relationship. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is efficacious for treating chronic insomnia and reducing depression in cancer survivor populations. The effects of CBT-I on anticipatory and consummatory pleasure are theoretically and clinically meaningful, yet remain unexamined.
PATIENTS/METHODS
This secondary analysis of a pilot RCT (N = 40 cancer survivors with insomnia) explicated changes in anticipatory and consummatory pleasure and depression symptoms following a 4-session, synchronous, virtual CBT-I program versus enhanced usual care (referral to a behavioral sleep medicine clinic + sleep hygiene handout). Linear mixed models examined changes in anticipatory and consummatory pleasure and depression symptoms as predictors of changes in insomnia severity from baseline to post-intervention and 1-month follow-up.
RESULTS
CBT-I buffered against deterioration in anticipatory pleasure but not consummatory pleasure or depression symptoms. Across conditions, increased anticipatory pleasure was associated with insomnia reduction through 1-month follow-up, even after adjusting for changes in depression symptoms.
CONCLUSION
CBT-I may improve reward processing deficits in cancer survivors with insomnia. Findings provide support for the ISR Model and implicate pleasure as an important target for insomnia and depression.
Topics: Humans; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Cancer Survivors; Depression; Pleasure; Treatment Outcome; Neoplasms
PubMed: 36739822
DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2023.01.011 -
International Journal of Transgender... 2023While the importance of sexual pleasure for physical and mental health becomes increasingly evident, research on sexual pleasure in transgender persons is lacking....
While the importance of sexual pleasure for physical and mental health becomes increasingly evident, research on sexual pleasure in transgender persons is lacking. Recently, the first version of the Amsterdam Sexual Pleasure Index (ASPI Vol. 0.1) was validated in cisgender persons. This questionnaire aims to assess the tendency to experience sexual pleasure independent of gender, sexual orientation or anatomy. The aims of this study were threefold. First, to perform exploratory scale validation analyses of the ASPI in transgender persons. Secondly, to compare transgender sexual pleasure scores to reference data in cisgender persons. Finally, to identify factors that are associated with sexual pleasure. In a follow-up study conducted within the European Network for the Investigation of Gender Incongruence (ENIGI), online questionnaires were distributed to persons who had a first clinical contact at gender clinics in Amsterdam, Ghent or Hamburg four to six years earlier. Internal consistency of the ASPI was assessed by calculating McDonald's omega (ω). ASPI scores were compared to scores from the cisgender population using a one sample t-test, and linear regressions were conducted to study associations with clinical characteristics, psychological wellbeing, body satisfaction and self-reported happiness. In total, 325 persons filled out the ASPI. The ASPI showed excellent internal consistency (ω, all: 0.97; transfeminine: 0.97, transmasculine: 0.97). Compared to data from cisgender persons, transgender participants had significantly lower total ASPI scores (i.e., lower sexual pleasure; transgender vs. cisgender, mean(SD): 4.13(0.94) vs. 4.71(0.61)). Lower age, current happiness and genital body satisfaction were associated with a higher tendency to experience sexual pleasure. The ASPI can be used to assess the tendency to experience sexual pleasure and associated factors in transgender persons. Future studies are needed to understand interplaying biopsychosocial factors that promote sexual pleasure and hence transgender sexual health and wellbeing.
PubMed: 37114112
DOI: 10.1080/26895269.2022.2028693 -
Alcohol and Alcoholism (Oxford,... Dec 2019A close and bidirectional relationship between alcohol consumption and pain has been previously reported and discussed in influential reviews. The goal of the present... (Review)
Review
AIMS
A close and bidirectional relationship between alcohol consumption and pain has been previously reported and discussed in influential reviews. The goal of the present narrative review is to provide an update on the developments in this field in order to guide future research objectives.
METHODS
We evaluated both epidemiological and neurobiological literature interrogating the relationship between alcohol use and pain for the presence of significant effects. We outlined studies on interactions between alcohol use and pain using both self-reports and objective experimental measures and discussed potential underlying mechanisms of these interactions.
RESULTS
Epidemiological, preclinical and clinical literature point to three major interactions between alcohol use and pain: (a) alcohol use leading to hyperalgesia, (b) alcohol use moderating pain and hyperalgesia and (c) chronic pain as a risk factor predisposing to alcohol relapse. Neurobiological studies using animal models to assess these interactions have transitioned from mostly involuntary modes of experimenter-controlled alcohol administration to self-administration procedures, and increasingly indicate that neuronal circuits implicated in both withdrawal and anticipation stages of alcohol use disorder also have a role in chronic pain. Mechanistically, alterations in GABA, glutamate, the corticotropin-releasing factor system, endogenous opioids and protein kinase C appear to play crucial roles in this maladaptive overlap.
CONCLUSIONS
Many of the principles explaining the interactions between alcohol and pain remain on a strong foundation, but continuing progress in modeling these interactions and underlying systems will provide a clearer basis for understanding, and ultimately treating, the damaging aspects of this interaction.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholism; Central Nervous System Depressants; Ethanol; Humans; Nociception; Pain; Pleasure
PubMed: 31509854
DOI: 10.1093/alcalc/agz067 -
The International Journal of... Jan 2023Cannabis use may be linked with anhedonia and apathy. However, previous studies have shown mixed results, and few have examined the association between cannabis use and...
BACKGROUND
Cannabis use may be linked with anhedonia and apathy. However, previous studies have shown mixed results, and few have examined the association between cannabis use and specific reward sub-processes. Adolescents may be more vulnerable than adults to harmful effects of cannabis. This study investigated (1) the association between non-acute cannabis use and apathy, anhedonia, pleasure, and effort-based decision-making for reward; and (2) whether these relationships were moderated by age group.
METHODS
We used data from the "CannTeen" study. Participants were 274 adult (26-29 years) and adolescent (16-17 years) cannabis users (1-7 d/wk use in the past 3 months) and gender- and age-matched controls. Anhedonia was measured with the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (n = 274), and apathy was measured with the Apathy Evaluation Scale (n = 215). Effort-based decision-making for reward was measured with the Physical Effort task (n = 139), and subjective wanting and liking of rewards was measured with the novel Real Reward Pleasure task (n = 137).
RESULTS
Controls had higher levels of anhedonia than cannabis users (F1,258 = 5.35, P = .02, η p2 = .02). There were no other significant effects of user-group and no significant user-group*age-group interactions. Null findings were supported by post hoc Bayesian analyses.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that cannabis use at a frequency of 3 to 4 d/wk is not associated with apathy, effort-based decision-making for reward, reward wanting, or reward liking in adults or adolescents. Cannabis users had lower anhedonia than controls, albeit at a small effect size. These findings are not consistent with the hypothesis that non-acute cannabis use is associated with amotivation.
Topics: Humans; Adult; Adolescent; Anhedonia; Cannabis; Decision Making; Apathy; Pleasure; Bayes Theorem; Motivation; Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists; Hallucinogens; Reward
PubMed: 35999024
DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyac056 -
International Journal of Environmental... Mar 2023Many people listen to music that conveys challenging emotions such as sadness and anger, despite the commonly assumed purpose of media being to elicit pleasure. We...
Many people listen to music that conveys challenging emotions such as sadness and anger, despite the commonly assumed purpose of media being to elicit pleasure. We propose that eudaimonic motivation, the desire to engage with aesthetic experiences to be challenged and facilitate meaningful experiences, can explain why people listen to music containing such emotions. However, it is unknown whether music containing violent themes can facilitate such meaningful experiences. In this investigation, three studies were conducted to determine the implications of eudaimonic and hedonic (pleasure-seeking) motivations for fans of music with violent themes. In Study 1, we developed and tested a new scale and showed that fans exhibit high levels of both types of motivation. Study 2 further validated the new scale and provided evidence that the two types of motivations are associated with different affective outcomes. Study 3 revealed that fans of violently themed music exhibited higher levels of eudaimonic motivation and lower levels of hedonic motivation than fans of non-violently themed music. Taken together, the findings support the notion that fans of music with violent themes are driven to engage with this music to be challenged and to pursue meaning, as well as to experience pleasure. Implications for fans' well-being and future applications of the new measure are discussed.
Topics: Humans; Pleasure; Motivation; Music; Emotions; Anger
PubMed: 36982066
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20065157 -
Praxis Feb 2021An Itching Pleasure A 50-year-old female patient presents in the emergency department with an itchy, acneiform exanthema on the trunk and malaise for two days....
An Itching Pleasure A 50-year-old female patient presents in the emergency department with an itchy, acneiform exanthema on the trunk and malaise for two days. Laboratory testing showed no abnormalities. After further questioning, the patient reported frequent use of her new whirlpool. Based on the medical history and the clinic we suspected a pseudomonas folliculitis. A bacterial culture of the pustules showed growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which confirmed the diagnosis. Systemic antibiotics were not necessary in the absence of risk factors for severe progress or immunosuppression. The exanthema healed within a few days without any complications by using external disinfectants.
Topics: Female; Folliculitis; Humans; Middle Aged; Pleasure; Pruritus; Pseudomonas Infections; Pseudomonas aeruginosa
PubMed: 33530778
DOI: 10.1024/1661-8157/a003426