London, Moods and emotions play an important role in our daily lives. They even influence how we experience things; for example, whether we start the day feeling hopeful and energized or moody and lethargic.
This can affect whether we interpret events positively or negatively.
However, in people with bipolar disorder, mood can change quickly and unpredictably, so that one becomes "stuck" in a low or high mood, which can have important consequences. However, researchers don't know exactly what drives such extreme mood swings. Now, our new study, published in Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, has uncovered the areas of the brain that modify mood and the brain's response to pleasure in bipolar disorder. Our findings may one day lead to better treatments.
We all experience mood swings throughout the day. When we are in a good mood, we tend to see things more favorably: if we experience a streak of success and are on a roll, our good mood similarly turns around and gains momentum.
Likewise, when we are in a bad mood, we tend to perceive bad outcomes as even worse than they are; This negative mood also gains momentum and can make us feel worse. That momentum boost can skew the way we perceive events and the decisions we make. Imagine walking into a new restaurant for the first time. If you're in a good mood, you're likely to perceive the experience as much better than it really is. This could set your expectations that a future visit would provide a similarly positive experience and leave you disappointed if that is not the case.
The process by which mood influences the perception of pleasant or rewarding experiences is believed to be amplified in people with bipolar disorder, who may experience moods that can quickly reach extremes.
Bipolar disorder has been described by those who experience it as a double-edged sword. In addition to periods of fluctuating (hypo)manic or depressed moods, many people with bipolar disorder vigorously pursue goals that are important to them and, as a result, are often successful. But what happens in the brain when our mood Mood changes from one second to the next in response to pleasurable experiences?
Mood bias in the brain
Pleasurable and rewarding experiences activate specific circuits in the brain that involve a neurochemical called dopamine. This helps us learn that the experience was positive and that we should repeat the actions that lead to this pleasurable experience. One way to measure the brain's response to reward is to examine activity in the ventral striatum, the key area of our brain. reward system responsible for the sensation of pleasure.
Our study aimed to find out what happens in the ventral striatum in 21 participants with bipolar disorder and 21 control participants when momentary changes in mood occur. We wanted to reduce this to the order of seconds, in response to monetary rewards.
Our participants were asked to play a computer game, which involved betting to win or lose real sums of money, while in a brain scanner. We used a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure blood flow in participants' brains and determine which areas were active. We also used a mathematical model to calculate participants' mood “boost”—how well they felt as they continued to win.
In all participants, we observed increased brain activity in an area of the brain involved in the experience and awareness of transient mood states: the anterior insula.
However, it turns out that during periods of upward momentum, in which participants had won many times, the ventral striatum showed a strong, positive signal only in participants with bipolar disorder. This means that participants with bipolar disorder experienced a greater feeling of reward. We also found that the amount of communication between the ventral striatum and anterior insula was reduced in participants with bipolar disorder. In the control group, both the ventral striatum and the anterior insula were activated in conjunction.
This suggests that control participants were better able to take their mood into account when perceiving rewards in the task. So while participants may find winning gratifying, we think they were more aware that this put them in a better mood.
This could help them adapt quickly to a changing environment (for better or worse) and protect them from expectations of obtaining a future reward becoming highly inflated. However, this was the opposite for participants with bipolar disorder. This means they were less able to differentiate their mood from how exciting or pleasurable they found the rewards.
These findings may help explain why people with bipolar disorder can become trapped in a vicious cycle in which their mood increases and sometimes causes them to take greater risks than usual.
The same mechanism that triggers a positive mood can also trigger a negative mood cycle. If you are on a winning streak and lose unexpectedly, the mood can shift into a negative cycle, with negative expectations and behavior changing accordingly. However, future studies will need to investigate negative mood cycles more specifically. Our findings may also inform the development of interventions that help people with bipolar disorder better decouple their mood from their perceptions and decisions, without reduce exciting experiences.
Since dopamine neurons are closely connected to the ventral striatum, it will be interesting to see if dopamine medication could improve this mood bias. (The conversation) GRS
GRS
This can affect whether we interpret events positively or negatively.
However, in people with bipolar disorder, mood can change quickly and unpredictably, so that one becomes "stuck" in a low or high mood, which can have important consequences. However, researchers don't know exactly what drives such extreme mood swings. Now, our new study, published in Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, has uncovered the areas of the brain that modify mood and the brain's response to pleasure in bipolar disorder. Our findings may one day lead to better treatments.
We all experience mood swings throughout the day. When we are in a good mood, we tend to see things more favorably: if we experience a streak of success and are on a roll, our good mood similarly turns around and gains momentum.
Likewise, when we are in a bad mood, we tend to perceive bad outcomes as even worse than they are; This negative mood also gains momentum and can make us feel worse. That momentum boost can skew the way we perceive events and the decisions we make. Imagine walking into a new restaurant for the first time. If you're in a good mood, you're likely to perceive the experience as much better than it really is. This could set your expectations that a future visit would provide a similarly positive experience and leave you disappointed if that is not the case.
The process by which mood influences the perception of pleasant or rewarding experiences is believed to be amplified in people with bipolar disorder, who may experience moods that can quickly reach extremes.
Bipolar disorder has been described by those who experience it as a double-edged sword. In addition to periods of fluctuating (hypo)manic or depressed moods, many people with bipolar disorder vigorously pursue goals that are important to them and, as a result, are often successful. But what happens in the brain when our mood Mood changes from one second to the next in response to pleasurable experiences?
Mood bias in the brain
Pleasurable and rewarding experiences activate specific circuits in the brain that involve a neurochemical called dopamine. This helps us learn that the experience was positive and that we should repeat the actions that lead to this pleasurable experience. One way to measure the brain's response to reward is to examine activity in the ventral striatum, the key area of our brain. reward system responsible for the sensation of pleasure.
Our study aimed to find out what happens in the ventral striatum in 21 participants with bipolar disorder and 21 control participants when momentary changes in mood occur. We wanted to reduce this to the order of seconds, in response to monetary rewards.
Our participants were asked to play a computer game, which involved betting to win or lose real sums of money, while in a brain scanner. We used a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure blood flow in participants' brains and determine which areas were active. We also used a mathematical model to calculate participants' mood “boost”—how well they felt as they continued to win.
In all participants, we observed increased brain activity in an area of the brain involved in the experience and awareness of transient mood states: the anterior insula.
However, it turns out that during periods of upward momentum, in which participants had won many times, the ventral striatum showed a strong, positive signal only in participants with bipolar disorder. This means that participants with bipolar disorder experienced a greater feeling of reward. We also found that the amount of communication between the ventral striatum and anterior insula was reduced in participants with bipolar disorder. In the control group, both the ventral striatum and the anterior insula were activated in conjunction.
This suggests that control participants were better able to take their mood into account when perceiving rewards in the task. So while participants may find winning gratifying, we think they were more aware that this put them in a better mood.
This could help them adapt quickly to a changing environment (for better or worse) and protect them from expectations of obtaining a future reward becoming highly inflated. However, this was the opposite for participants with bipolar disorder. This means they were less able to differentiate their mood from how exciting or pleasurable they found the rewards.
These findings may help explain why people with bipolar disorder can become trapped in a vicious cycle in which their mood increases and sometimes causes them to take greater risks than usual.
The same mechanism that triggers a positive mood can also trigger a negative mood cycle. If you are on a winning streak and lose unexpectedly, the mood can shift into a negative cycle, with negative expectations and behavior changing accordingly. However, future studies will need to investigate negative mood cycles more specifically. Our findings may also inform the development of interventions that help people with bipolar disorder better decouple their mood from their perceptions and decisions, without reduce exciting experiences.
Since dopamine neurons are closely connected to the ventral striatum, it will be interesting to see if dopamine medication could improve this mood bias. (The conversation) GRS
GRS
