Speakers

Wolfram Schultz, University of Cambridge

Topic description: Reward and economic decision processes, combining neuronal studies in behaving monkeys and neuroeconomics (electrophysiology and behaviour)

Eva Pool, University of Geneva

Topic description: The psychological mechanisms underlying compulsive reward seeking behaviour. More precisely, I would like to present recent work that aims at understanding human behavior are characterized by an imbalance between the considerable amount of effort an individual is willing to mobilize to obtain a reward and the comparatively little pleasure that is felt once the reward is obtained and consumed

Nils Kroemer, University of Tubingen

Topic description: Pleasure and desire are fundamental aspects of motivation driving goal-directed behavior. How important these motivational facets are for our mental health is strikingly illustrated by “anhedonia”, which is a cardinal symptom of depression commonly defined as a loss of pleasure or interest in rewarding activities. Despite the intuitive appeal of this construct, anhedonia has been notoriously difficult to treat, partly because pleasure and desire do not arise from the same neural circuits and specific symptoms may require differential treatment. Based on a combination of novel interventions targeting specific brain circuits with neuroimaging and computational modeling of motivated behavior, my lab is seeking to decompose anhedonia and to identify effective means to improve aspects of motivation such as vigor and reinforcement learning.

Anna Beyeler, University of Bordeaux

Topic description: Human neuroimaging studies revealed abnormal function of the insular cortex (insula) and amygdala in patients suffering of different types of anxiety disorders. Recent anatomical studies in animal models reported divergent connections between the anterior and posterior subregions of the insula, including projections of the anterior insula to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and projections from the posterior insula to the central nucleus of amygdala (CeA). While the neural circuits of anxiety are well studied in the amygdala, the function of insula neurons in anxiety remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the role of the anterior and posterior insula neurons in anxiety-related behaviors. First, to record the activity of anterior and posterior glutamatergic neurons of the insula, we used in vivo fiber photometry during well-established anxiety assays. We found that the activity of glutamatergic neurons in the anterior, but not posterior insula is correlated with anxiety in different anxiety tests including the elevated plus maze and the open field test. Second, we characterized the organization of insula-amygdala projections by performing anterograde and retrograde tracing. Moreover, we quantified the proportion of anterior insula-BLA and posterior insula-CeA projectors expressing the serotonin 1A or 2A receptors. Lastly, we defined the monosynaptic nature of the insula inputs to the basolateral and central amygdala. Altogether, our findings revealed a role of insula projection neurons in anxiety-related behaviors.

James Pfaus, University of Veracruz

Topic description: Although sexual desire and pleasure have been difficult to define objectively, they have behavioral, attentional, and learned components that reliably reflect an individual’s trajectory toward interacting with sex-related cues. Sexual desire is thus controlled by neural systems involved in sexual excitation and inhibition. Well over 50 years of pharmacological and neuroendocrine study has revealed a highly conserved set of excitatory and inhibitory systems in the brains of mammals that link sexual desire to sexual pleasure. This review merges data from the human and animal literatures, focusing on the effects of drugs and conditions that stimulate sexual arousal and desire (excitatory systems) versus those involved in the stimulation of sexual pleasure and reward, sedation, and satiety (inhibitory systems). Brain dopamine systems that link the hypothalamic, limbic, and cortical structures appear to form the core of the excitatory system. This system also includes the actions of melanocortins, oxytocin, and noradrenaline in the stimulation of components of sexual desire. Brain opioid, endocannabinoid, and serotonin systems are activated during periods of sexual pleasure that also underlie aspects of sexual inhibition or refractoriness and blunt the ability of excitatory systems to be further activated by sexual incentives. Notably, despite the fact that opioid activation during sexual pleasure leads to a short-term sexual inhibition, this activation also sensitizes dopamine release in response to sex-related cues, forming a basis for learned associations, expectations, fetishes, and indeed any focusing of attention on familiar and predictive sexual cues when individuals are “horny”.  Hormones, drugs, and/or situational events that elevate dopamine, or that blunt serotonin, appear to be effective in stimulating sexual desire in all mammals.

Christelle Baunez, Aix-Marseille University

Topic description: Drug use can be seen as an initial search for pleasure, but it is no longer the case when the use has evolved towards addiction. Can we reduce addiction towards drugs by directly manipulating the brain? Is it possible to replace the drug by other alternatives such as the social contact of a peer?