Jan 15 Flashcards
Jeremy Bentham - 2 sovereign masters of mankind QUOTE
“nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, PAIN and PLEASURE. it is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do”
psychological hedonism
perspective arguing that people are motivated to act in ways that INCREASE PLEASURE and DECREASE PAIN
reward
something an animal WILL WORK TO ACHIEVE
- primary rewards
- secondary rewards
primary rewards
NATURALLY REWARDING
BIOLOGICALLY ESSENTIAL
ie. food, water, warmth, sex
secondary rewards
LEARNED rewards that GAIN IMPORTANCE through repeated associations with primary rewards
ie. money
pleasure
SUBJECTIVE HEDONIC value of rewards
punishment
anything an animal WILL WORK TO AVOID
- primary punishments
- secondary punishments
primary punishments
- NATURALLY AVERSIVE
- THREATEN SURVIVAL
ie. physical injury, tissue damage
secondary punishments
LEARNED punishments that ACQUIRE aversiveness through REPEATED ASSOCIATIONS with primary punishments
ie. financial loss, bad grades
pain
subjective HEDONIC and MOTIVATIONAL response to punishing stimuli
why does context matter with regards to pleasure and pain?
rewards don’t always produce pleasure
punishments don’t always cause pain
context matters!
subjective utility
PERSONAL VALUE or SATISFACTION and individual assigns to an outcome
based on their:
1. preferences
2. circumstances
hedonic feelings
pleasure and pain
what do hedonic feelings exist to encourage?
exist to encourage BEHAVIOURS that help OPTIMIZE INTERNAL BALANCE
- pleasure guides us towards stimuli that help restore/maintain homeostasis
- pain signals deviation from homeostasis
pleasure guides us towards what kinds of stimuli?
towards stimuli that help RESTORE/MAINTAIN homeostasis
pain signals what in regards to homeostasis?
deviation from homeostasis
alliesthesia
subjective HEDONIC VALUE of stimulus is tied to EXTENT to which stimulus CONTRIBUTES TO or DISRUPTS homeostasis
^ essentially, a stimulus will be experienced as pleasurable or painful depending on how it affects the body’s homeostatic balance
are pain and pleasure opposites?
no
they’re intertwined and exert reciprocal influences on the other
problem with statement that “we are motivated solely by desire to avoid pain and attain pleasure”
this ignores the full complexity of human motivation
pain definition from the international association for the study of pain
pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage”
is nociception the same as pain?
nope!
nociception
neural detection & transmission of info about tissue damage
involves sensory receptors (nociceptors) that respond to thermal, mechanical & chemical stimuli
occurs without conscious awareness
types of stimuli that nociceptors respond to
chemical, thermal, mechanical
pain
subjective, conscious experience of discomfort or distress
dissociation between nociception and pain
- can have nociception without pain
- can have pain without nociception
example of nociception without pain
withdrawal reflex
anesthesia
high-adrenaline situations (ie. soldiers in combat)
example of pain without nociception
phantom limb
neuropathic pain
4 things that can alter pain perception
- psychological state
- context
- expectations
- ascribed meaning
the 2 components of pain
- sensory-discriminative component
- affective-motivational component
sensory-discriminative component of pain provides info about what?
provides info about:
- intensity
- quality
- location
of pain
sensory-discriminative component of pain is processed where?
primary and secondary somatosensory cortices
posterior insula
affective-motivational component of pain relates to what?
relates to EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE of pain (how distressing is it?)
and DRIVES MOTIVATION to escape or stop the painful experience
affective-motivational component of pain is processed where?
dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)
anterior insula (AI)
evidence of dissociation between the two components of pain comes from where?
lesions to dACC or insula
hypnosis
congenital insensitivity to pain
rare genetic disease
characterized by COMPLETE INABILITY TO PERCEIVE PAIN
case studies of individuals with CIP
- repeated injuries (fractures, burns, oral wounds due to self-biting)
- infections from untreated wounds
- reduced life expectancy
^ shows how crucial pain is for protecting from injuries
pain’s function: neural alarm system
pain is our body’s way of telling us to:
- PAY ATTENTION to something that could cause tissue injury or death
- TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION
specific features of the neural alarm system
pain…
- captures attention, heightens arousal & awareness
- supersedes other goals
- drives action (avoidance, escape, fight-or-flight, solicitation of support)
- promotes recuperation & healing
adaptive trait
characteristic that helps organisms survive & reproduce
ie. sharp claws, camouflage, SOCIAL AFFILIATION
adaptive value of belonging: group living
group living served as MULTI-PURPOSE SURVIVAL TOOL
- help hunting large game & foraging
- sharing food
- defensive vigilance and greater strength against predators and hostile groups
- help caring for offspring
- access to mates
why was belonging to a group a matter of life and death?
- individuals who stayed with the group were more likely to SURVIVE and REPRODUCE
- those who isolated themselves were at greater risk of HARM and DEATH
physical pain mechanisms may have been exapted to…
support affiliation
social pain
responses to rejection or exclusion
may have evolved from physical pain to promote group cohesion
pain could signal need to stay with the group, encouraging cooperation, reconciliation and survival
international terms for hurt feelings
hurt, wounded, injured, harmed, hit the head, hit the mind, hurt by harsh words, hurt my feelings
relates back to social pain hypothesis
cyberball background
paradigm for studying social exclusion
can be used in fMRI
cyberball exclusion related to increased activation where?
in the dACC and AI
magnitude of neural activation correlates with both SELF-REPORTED feelings of social exclusion and OBSERVER-RATED social distress
paradigms that show increased dACC and/or AI activation in response to social pain
- viewing photo of rejecting ex-partner
- viewing photo of deceased relative
- artwork conveying sense of loneliness & social disconnection
- viewing disapproving facial expressions (for individuals high in rejection sensitivity)
- negative social evaluations
evidence of shared sensitivity to physical and social pain
- greater baseline sensitivity to physical pain predicts greater sensitivity to social exclusion
- genetic variant related to greater physical pain sensitivity (OPRM 118G) related to greater social pain sensitivity
OPRM1 118G genetic variant is linked to what?
greater physical pain sensitivity
and social pain too:
1. greater trait rejection sensitivity
- greater self-reported subjective & neural reactivity to Cyberball exclusion
- more sensitivity to hurtful partner behaviour (ie. being ignored, criticism)
factors that DECREASE social pain should have what kind of effect on physical pain?
parallel
factors that DECREASE social pain have parallel effects on physical pain
example of factor that decreases social pain and then also decreases physical pain
social support
social support decreases physical pain (ie. during labour, thermal pain tasks in the lab)
this is reflected in decreased signalling in the dACC and AI in response to the pain task
what about factors that INCREASE social pain? how do these affect physical pain?
complicated
- cyberball exclusion has been shown to lead to pain HYPERSENSITIVITY, with Ps who feel most excluded reporting highest pain ratings
- INTENTIONALLY inflicted pain hurts more than incidental pain
BUT SOCIAL EXCLUSION HAS ALSO BEEN LINKED TO HYPOALGESIA
^ may depend on paradigm, context, motivational factors
hypoalgesia
reduction in pain
importantly, social and pain responses ______ each other
parallel
ie. analgesia coincides with emotional numbing
under what circumstances might numbness to pain be adaptive?
factors that decrease physical pain have ______ effects on social pain
parallel
Ps taking tylenol (vs placebo):
- report lower levels of hurt feelings in daily life
- exhibit less dACC and AI activation during cyberball
factors that increase physical pain have ______ effects on social pain
parallel
an inflammatory challenge (endotoxin injection):
- increases interpersonal sensitivity
- increases neural activity to social exclusion
behavioural consequences of social pain: neuropsychological evidence
- in animals, dACC lesions lead to decreases in separation distress, deficits in social behaviour (maternal behaviour, social interest, proximity seeking)
- less research in humans, but case studies of cingulotomies (ACC lesions) suggest social disinhibition, reduced concern about opinions of others, decreased self-consciousness
experimental evidence that social pain drives ___________ behaviour
affiliative
- increased desire to work with others on a task
- increasing effort on subsequent group task
- more likely to sign up for a “friend matchmaking service”
- provide more positive evaluations & allocate more monetary rewards to novel partner
- pay more attention to social info (social monitoring)
^ ie. selective memory for explicitly social events
caveat: likely to engage in affiliative behaviour only to the extent to which…
we see target as a VIABLE SOURCE of SOCIAL CONNECTION
caveat: those who are particularly fearful of negative social evaluation…
are less likely to affiliate after rejection
after rejection, tend to direct affiliative efforts towards…
novel partners
not towards those responsible for the rejection
may even derogate rejectors
like physical pain, social pain has also been shown to lead to…
aggressive (“fight”) responses
aggressive responses may be particularly LIKELY WHEN DEFENSIVE DISTANCE IS LOW
pain involves what three umbrella components?
sensory, affective and motivational
pain plays important role in protecting _________ _______ and ensuring _________
protecting HOMEOSTATIC BALANCE
ensuring SURVIVAL
stimuli/conditions other than physical injury may engage physical pain systems to the extent that…
they threaten homeostasis and prospects of survival
ie. pain may be a more general sign that “all is not well”
best example of this is SOCIAL LOSS & REJECTION
pleasure motivates us to pursue what?
rewarding experiences that promote:
- wellbeing
- survival
- reproduction
(ie. food, social bonding, sex, exploration)
like pain, the experience of reward is a ________ construct…
multifaceted
it can be used to refer to either the OBJECT or the EXPERIENCE RELATED TO the object
pleasure: when referring to the experience, can be sudvided into…
- something we WANT (something we’ll work to achieve)
- something we LIKE (something that gives us pleasure)
these components are DISSOCIABLE but INTERRELATED (ie. if a stimulus brings us pleasure, we’ll want it more next time)
liking versus wanting
anticipating and actively seeking something good (wanting) is different from actually receiving and enjoying something good (liking)
although these two components often go hand-in-hand, they’re DISSOCIABLE at the BEHAVIOURAL and NEURAL level
wanting
the DESIRE for the reward
the sense of ANTICIPATION
how is wanting typically measured?
measured by the AMOUNT OF EFFORT individual will exert to obtain the reward
rewards of beauty
facial beauty is considered a PRIMARY REWARD
brain processes facial attractiveness similarly to how it processes other rewarding stimuli, like food, money or drugs
people report both “liking” attractive faces and will expend effort to view them (“wanting”)
evidence of beauty as a primary reward
- sensitivity to facial beauty emerges early in life
(infants prefer looking at attractive faces over unattractive ones)
- evolutionary perspective: signals health, fertility, genetic fitness
liking
the subjective FEELING OF PLEASURE we experience WHEN WE RECEIVE a reward
“hedonic gloss”
when is liking/pleasure amplified?
during a state of deprivation
what can we use as indicators of liking in non-human animals and babies who can’t talk?
spontaneous facial expressions
dopamine
the long-understood “pleasure molecule”
NOW understood as playing LARGER ROLE in MOTIVATION or “WANTING”, rather than “liking”
dopamine-based reward circuit begins in
ventral tegmental area (VTA)
dopamine is synthesized here
dopamine-based reward circuit - dopamine is released where
nucleus accumbens (NA)
the brain’s pleasure centre
dopamine-based reward circuit extends from NA to where?
- the prefrontal cortex (PFC)
involved in decision-making & self-regulation
- the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
key for evaluating the reward value of stimuli
prediction error
difference between what we expect and what actually happens
dopamine release is greatest when…
a reward is
1) UNEXPECTED (surprise)
2) UNDER-PREDICTED (better than expected)
dopamine release and anticipation
dopamine release is greater during the ANTICIPATION of a reward
ie. THINKING about eating chocolate chip cookies or ANTICIPATING making money
than during ACTUAL RECEIPT of the reward
dopamine is more about…
LEARNING and MOTIVATING GOAL-DIRECTED APPROACH BEHAVIOUR
rather than signalling enjoyment
what plays larger role in liking/pleasure? endogenous or exogenous opioids?
endogenous (“from within”)
“opioids for hedonic experience and dopamine to get ready for it”
opioid and dopamine system are closely related neuro-anatomically
interact in complex ways
how can we examine the role of endogenous opioids in hedonic feelings?
- by ADMINISTERING OPIOID ANTAGONISTS (naltrexone or naloxone)
^ these substances BLOCK endogenous opioid signals
- can also use NEUROIMAGING METHODS to look at opioid release & correlate extent of opioid release with subjective feelings
broadly, opioids mediate what?
mediate PLEASURE stemming from variety of rewarding activities
ie. eating tasty food
what underlies the increase in enjoyment of consuming food in a deprived state?
opioids
examples of rewarding activities that cause pleasure mediated by opioids
eating tasty foods
aerobic exercise (runner’s high)
consuming drugs & alcohol
winning money
sexual behaviour
social play
connecting with others
viewing beautiful faces
opioids: connecting with others - naltrexone does what?
naltrexone DECREASES REWARD obtained from:
- READING AFFECTIONATE NOTES from close others
- or LOOKING AT THEIR PICTURES
pain & pleasure work tgt to optimize…
homeostatic balance
while pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance generally enhance survival…
they can sometimes COMPETE
ie. larger reward may only be accessible at the price of some pain
what is understanding the interplay of pain and pleasure crucial for?
crucial for UNDERSTANDING DECISION-MAKING and GOAL SELECTION
motivation-decision model of pain
subjective interpretation of a sensory event can be understood as manifestation of unconscious decision processes
decisions are based on what is MOST CRUCIAL FOR SURVIVAL IN THE MOMENT
if something more important than pain is happening, the brain can REDUCE PAIN SIGNALS to allow focus on that bigger priority
motivation-decision model of pain: factors influencing the decision
- INTERNAL STATE: are you hungry, tired, injured?
- SENSORY INPUT: what’s happening in your environment?
- THREATS & REWARDS: are there dangers or opportunities nearby?
motivation-decision model of pain: if something more important is happening…
the brain can REDUCE PAIN SIGNALS to allow focus on that bigger priority
consistent with motivation-decision model of pain, a variety of rewarding…
rewarding stimuli have been shown to REDUCE PAIN in humans and non-human animals
ie. sweet foods/drinks, pleasurable odours, pleasant music, sex, social support
^ some of these effects have been shown to be OPIOID-MEDIATED
example of opioid-mediated effect of rewarding stimuli reducing pain idea
naltrexone reverses increased PAIN TOLERANCE that typically follows consumption of sweet substances
analgesia
suppression of pain
2 types of ______ produced by endogenous opioids
- stress-induced analgesia
- pleasure-induced analgesia
expectation of reward does what to pain?
reduces it
ie. when hungry rats learn that painful shock predicts food reward, show attenuation of pain response to the shock
^ such suppression of pain reverses with opioid antagonist administration
placebo analgesia
striking example of expectation of reward reducing pain (motivation-decision hypothesis)
reduction in pain occurs after a person is given a placebo
placebo analgesia: in studies of chronic pain…
strongest predictors of clinical outcomes are EXPECTATIONS about EFFECTIVENESS OF TREATMENT
evidence for opioidergic modulation of placebo analgesia
- reversible by opioid receptor antagonists
- MAGNITUDE of placebo analgesia POSITIVELY CORRELATES with increased opioid release in the brain
3 points: dopamine also appears to play role in analgesia in situations where reward is expected
- introduction of placebo treatment associated with activation of DA neurotransmission in the NAcc
- magnitude of placebo-induced DA response predicts subsequent development of placebo-induced analgesia in pain trials
- individuals who show stronger NAcc responses during anticipation of a monetary reward show stronger placebo analgesia during pain task
