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anhedonia

·June 16, 2020·2 min read

The molecular mechanisms of depression

Study reveals how the brain's opioid system is linked to mood changes associated with depression and anxiety. Neuroimaging revealed, in those with depression, there is a decreased number of opioid receptors in specific areas of the brain.

Autism Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·January 18, 2020·4 min read

What people who don’t like music might tell us about social interaction

Musical anhedonia, a neurological condition where people don't enjoy music, affects 5% of the population. Researchers are exploring if this same condition could also be what impairs social bonding for some people on the autism spectrum.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·January 18, 2020·2 min read

Music helps researchers find link between prediction and pleasure

Exposing subjects to music composed in an unfamiliar scale, researchers test whether reward can be derived solely from newly formed predictions.

This is a chemical stick and ball model of dopamine

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Psychology

·December 27, 2019·4 min read

Dopamine fasting: an expert reviews the latest craze in Silicon Valley

The latest Silicon Valley crazy of dopamine fasting promises to "reset" the brain to be more effective and appreciate the smaller things in life more easily, but does it work? Researchers look at the effect of dopamine fasting on brain health.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 2, 2019·3 min read

Why stress doesn’t always cause depression

Rats susceptible to anhedonia have more serotonin neurons in the ventral dorsal raphe nucleus. However, activating neurons in the central amygdala reduced the serotonin signaling and lowered the effects of social stress.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·October 4, 2019·3 min read

Promising steps towards hope for a treatment for schizophrenia

Mu-opioid receptor (MOR) levels are significantly reduced in the striatum in those with schizophrenia. A lack of MOR system stimulation contributes to negative feelings, such as a lack of motivation and anhedonia, associated with the condition. Increasing MOR levels could help to reduce some of the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Electrophysiology Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain Psychology

·September 26, 2019·4 min read

Molecular link between chronic pain and depression revealed

Inhibitory inputs to the neural circuit between the dorsolateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (dlBNST) to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) increase when a person is in chronic pain. This alteration is mediated by enhanced corticotropin-releasing factor signaling within the dlBNST, leading to suppression of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. The result is depressive mood and anhedonia associated with chronic pain.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 5, 2019·4 min read

Brain circuit connects feeding and mood in response to stress

A new study identifies a novel neural network regulating feeding and mood in response to chronic stress. Inhibiting the POMC to ventral tegmental area circuit increases body weight and food intake while reducing depressive symptoms in mouse models.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·August 8, 2019·4 min read

Genetic variation contributes to individual differences in pleasure

What we find pleasurable may be down to our genetics. Researchers found nucleus accumbens activation and physical anhedonia were influenced by shared genes. The experience of pleasure and physical anhedonia also appear to share some of the same genes.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·May 22, 2019·3 min read

New therapeutic target for depression identified

A fragment of the neuropeptide Galanin appears to play a role in anhedonia in mouse models of depression. Galanin could be a potential target for the treatment of depression.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 15, 2019·3 min read

Inflammation induces anhedonia in women but not men

Inflammation appears to reduce reward response in females. Reduced activity in the brain's reward system is a key component of anhedonia, the loss of enjoyment in activities, a core feature of depression. The findings may explain why depression is more prevalent in women than in men.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 13, 2019·5 min read

Differences in brain activity in children with anhedonia

Using fMRI to examine the brains of children while resting, researchers discover anhedonia is associated with hyperconnectivity between the cingulo-opercular network and ventral striatum.