The Nature and Neurobiology of Positive Affect and Reward presented by Alexander Shackman

Workshop Level: All levels

Program Description: 

In this multidisciplinary 3-hour workshop, we will explore the current state of our scientific understanding of positive affect and reward, their roots in the brain, and their relevance to psychiatric illness.

Emotional states, traits, and disorders reflect bidirectional interactions between the brain and psychosocial experience. Understanding the emotional brain requires a deep understanding of behavior, ethology, and emotion theory. Conversely, neurobiology has provided unique insights into the nature of the emotional mind—insights that cannot be obtained using ratings or other behavioral measures. In short, the psychology and biology of emotion are interdependent, and we cannot make much progress in one without the other. Accordingly, in this workshop we will delve deeply into both areas and explore their relevance to depression and substance use.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Explain the nature, epidemiology, and public health consequences of depression and substance use disorders.

2. Understand the relevance of reward sensitivity to the development of depression, substance use disorders, and everyday temptation.

3. Understand the distinction between “wanting” (appetitive motivation) vs. “liking” (hedonic and consummatory pleasure) rewards.

4. Describe the relevance of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system and nucleus accumbens/ventral striatum to adaptive and maladaptive positive affect and reward sensitivity.

Overview of the Learning Modules:

Module 0. A Brief Introduction

Module 1. The Neurobiology of Positive Affect and Reward (Part 1): Wanting, Liking, and Depression

The popular media suggests that the neurotransmitter dopamine underlies pleasure, euphoria, and even sensations of yumminess. But affective neuroscience reveals a more complex and nuanced story about the neural underpinnings of positive affect and reward. The major focus of this module is on the basic neuroscience of wanting and liking, beginning with James Olds’ pioneering work on self-stimulation in the 1950s and continuing to recent work by Kent Berridge, Terry Robinson, Brian Knutson, Argyris Stringaris, and many others. In addition to invasive manipulations in animal models, we will explore work leveraging neurofeedback and pharmaco-imaging approaches in humans. In the final section, we will briefly discuss the implications of this body of basic research for understanding anhedonia, a cardinal symptom of major depression that features prominently in a number of other psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia.

Module 2. The Neurobiology of Positive Affect and Reward (Part 2): Temptation, Craving, and Addiction

Temptation and craving are common. Why is it often so hard to resist immediate gratification? Here, we will continue to explore the neurobiology of reward and positive affect, focusing on the interplay between ventral striatal/accumbens circuits involved in craving and approach (“mmmm, doughnuts!”) and prefrontal circuits involved in self-control (“arrrggh, diet!”). Like the prior module, the major focus will on basic science, not clinical implications. We will explore innovative research from Todd Heatherton and colleagues that integrates fMRI measures of brain function with experience-sampling (“EMA/ESM”) and other measures of motivated behavior collected in the midst of daily life. We will discuss the florid impulse control problems

(e.g. hyper-sexuality) that afflict some patients with Parkinson’s Disorder, and what has been learned about the underlying neurochemistry using positron emission tomography (PET). We will discuss a range of work—including neuroimaging research by Todd Hare and Colin Camerer and classic studies of Phineas Gage and Damasio’s Patient EVR/Elliot—suggesting that the orbitofrontal cortex plays a key role in adjudicating conflicts between the devil on one shoulder (temptation) and the angel on the other (self-control). In the final section, we will briefly explore the implications of this body of basic research for understanding substance abuse and other impulse control disorders. Using the tragic story of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman as a touchstone, we will discuss Berridge and Robinson’s Incentive Sensitization Theory, which attempts to address why users remain vulnerable to relapse years after quitting, long after the symptoms of acute withdrawal have subsided.

About the Instructor:

Dr. Alex Shackman is a Professor in the Department of Psychology (Clinical & CNS Area Groups), core faculty member of the interdepartmental Neuroscience and Cognitive Science (NACS) Program and the Maryland Neuroimaging Center (MNC), and Director of the Affective and Translational Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Maryland. His work has been continuously supported by the NIH since 2016 and has led to more than 100 papers and chapters. He served as the Co-Editor of The Nature of Emotion, is an Associate Editor at the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science (formerly Journal of Abnormal Psychology), and co-edited three special issues focused on the neurobiology of emotional states, traits, and disorders. He is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science; an active member of the Affective Neuroimaging Collaboratory, ENIGMA, and Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortia; and a standing member of the NIH Adult Psychopathology and Disorders of Aging (APDA) study section. Most of his work is focused on understanding the nature and brain bases of emotional states, traits, and disorders. His group uses a wide range of tools—including multimodal neuroimaging (MRI, PET), psychophysiology, neuroendocrine measures, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), geolocation tracking, semi-structured clinical and life-stress interviews, and genetic analyses—in adult and pediatric patients, university students, community members, and monkeys. Professor Shackman lives in Ellicott City, Maryland with his wife, mother-in-law, two children, a dog, and two cats.

Disclosures: The presenter receives an honorarium from APP for this presentation. There is no conflict of interest or commercial support to report.

APP is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. APP maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. For more information contact apponline.org.