Painful behavior: affective pain hurts your motivation
Affective pain leads to inhibition of dopamine neurons decreasing motivation, but it can be restored.
Washington University in St. Louis (MI, USA) researchers have uncovered the neuronal circuitry in the brain of rodents that may play a role in mediating pain-induced anhedonia – a decrease in motivation to perform reward-driven behaviors. The study, led by Jose Morón-Concepcion, demonstrated the ability to change the activity of this circuit and restore levels of motivation in a pre-clinical pain model, a valuable discovery for mental health research and potential therapeutic development.