How childhood trauma may increase vulnerability to apathy
Experiencing trauma in childhood can lead to a lack of motivation and less pleasure from rewards—or anhedonia—later in life. In humans, childhood trauma is linked to changes in the activity of reward-related brain pathways stemming from an area called the hippocampus.
Experiencing childhood trauma may lead to a lack of motivation and reduced pleasure from rewards in adulthood. This connection has been identified in humans, with changes in reward-related brain pathways, particularly in the hippocampus, being linked to anhedonia. Animal studies have also shown that hippocampal alterations may contribute to anhedonia.
A team of researchers from Temple University and the University of Oregon aimed to determine if hippocampal changes resulting from childhood trauma make individuals more susceptible to developing anhedonia. To investigate this, the researchers surveyed a large group of human participants about their childhood trauma and capacity for experiencing pleasure.
Subsequently, they employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to analyze connections between the hippocampus and motivation-related brain regions. The findings revealed that individuals who experienced childhood trauma and had disrupted hippocampal pathways exhibited more anhedonia than those with childhood trauma but without hippocampal disruption.
The researchers concluded that childhood trauma, in conjunction with disrupted motivation-related pathways in the brain, may contribute to the onset of anhedonia. This work is notable as it is among the first to establish a link between the hippocampus, typically associated with memory, and apathetic behavior in humans. The research team intends to identify a potential target within the hippocampus to increase pleasure in individuals with a history of childhood trauma and to further explore the relationship between memory and anhedonia.
Written by urgent.news from Medical Xpress's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
