Anhedonia in Trauma-Exposed Individuals: Functional Connectivity and Decision-Making Correlates

Overview

Journal Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging

Specialties Neurology
Psychiatry
Radiology

Date 2018 Nov 10

PMID 30409390

Citations 22

Authors

Elizabeth A Olson

Roselinde H Kaiser

Diego A Pizzagalli

Scott L Rauch

Isabelle M Rosso

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Reward processing deficits have been increasingly associated with trauma exposure and are a core feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While altered resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of ventral striatal regions, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), has been associated with anhedonia in some stress-related disorders, relationships between NAcc rsFC and anhedonia have not previously been investigated in trauma-exposed individuals. Additionally, relationships between anhedonia and reward-related decision making remain unexplored in relation to trauma exposure. We hypothesized that elevated anhedonia would be associated with altered rsFC between NAcc and default mode network regions and with increased delay discounting.

Methods: The sample included 51 participants exposed to a DSM-IV PTSD Criterion A event related to community trauma. Participants completed the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale, the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, a computerized delay discounting paradigm, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. rsFC data were analyzed in SPM12 and CONN.

Results: Higher levels of anhedonia were associated with increased rsFC between seed regions of bilateral NAcc and areas of right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. This relationship remained significant after accounting for Clinician Administered PTSD Scale total scores, Beck Depression Inventory total scores, or diagnostic group in the regression. Additionally, anhedonia was associated with elevated (increased) delay discounting.

Conclusions: Greater anhedonia was related to higher positive connectivity between NAcc and right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and to increased delay discounting, i.e., greater preference for smaller immediate versus larger delayed rewards. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature emphasizing the importance of anhedonia in trauma-exposed individuals.

Citing Articles

Greater neural delay discounting on reward evaluation in anhedonia.

Guan C, Zhou S, Wang Z, Gao B, Zheng Y Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2025; 25(1):100542.

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Aberrant neural event segmentation during a continuous social narrative in trauma-exposed older adolescents and young adults.

Granger S, Olson E, Weinstein S, Vratimos I, Lynch B, Ren B Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2025; .

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Does Trauma Change the Way Individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Deal with Positive Stimuli?.

Pino O, Rossi M, Malvezzi M Behav Sci (Basel). 2025; 14(12.

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Acute Stress Disorders Among Jordanian Adolescents After Watching Gaza News Footage on Social Media.

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Predicting Fear Extinction in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

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