International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy

Reward Loss as Psychological Pain [Pérdida de recompensa como dolor psicológico]

Volume 6 Num. 2 - July 2006 - Pages 189-213

Authors:

Mauricio R. Papini, Michael Wood, Alan M. Daniel, and Jacob N. Norris

Abstract:

This article reviews research that suggests parallels between the mechanisms underlying
physical pain and fear, and those underlying psychological pain derived from reward loss. Reward loss is a major source of emotional arousal and conflict that can be modeled in the laboratory in a preparation known as consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC). In cSNC, a group of rats is exposed to a downshift in the incentive value of a sucrose solution that leads to a sharp suppression of consummatory behavior. Research reviewed in this article demonstrates that the opioid system is normally engaged in cSNC and that individual differences in sensitivity to opioid antagonists correlate with fast recovery (resilience) and slow recovery (vulnerability) from reward loss. The co-option of the opioid system into playing a role in adjustment to situations involving psychological pain may be an evolutionary adaptation unique to mammals.

Key words:

Incentive contrast, Psychological pain, Reward loss, Consummatory successive negative contrast, Opioids, Individual differences

Full Article

More articles in this volume

• [129-132] Darwin lives: Introduction to the Serie on Animal Learning and Cognition [Darwin vive: Introducción a la Serie Sobre Aprendizaje y Cognición Animal]
• [133-146] On the Nature of Relations Learned in Pavlovian Conditioning [Sobre la Naturaleza de las Relaciones Aprendidas en el Condicionamiento Pavloviano]
• [147-166] Revision of Retrieval Theory of Forgetting: What does Make Information Context-Specific? [Revisión de la Teoría de la Recuperación de la Información: ¿Qué Convierte a la Información en Dependiente del Contexto?]
• [167-187] Instructional Ambiguity in the Discrimination of and Memory for the Duration of a Stimulus [Ambigüedad instruccional en la discriminación de y la memoria de la duración de un Estímulo]
• [215-231] Gestural Imitation by a Gorilla: Evidence and Nature of the Capacity [Imitación gestual por un gorila: evidencia y naturaleza de la capacidad]
• [233-248] Individual Response Strategies in List Learning by Orangutans [Estrategias de respuesta individual en el aprendizaje de listas por orangutanes]
• [249-260] Diazepam attenuates Successive Positive Contrast in One-Way Avoidance Learning [El diazepan atenúa el efecto de contraste positivo sucesivo en el aprendizaje de evitación de un sentido]
• [261-272] Los efectos de la anfetamina administrada en el córtex prefrontal medial sobre las diferencias individuales en polidipsia inducida por programa [Individual differences on schedule-induced polydipsia: Differential effects of prefrontal cortex amphetamine infusion]
• [273-286] Preexposición al programa de comida y desarrollo de anorexia basada en actividad en ratas [Preexposure to food regime and development of activity-based anorexia in rats]