Craving love? Enduring grief activates brain’s reward center
Open accessAbstract
Complicated Grief (CG) occurs when an individual experiences prolonged, unabated grief. The neural mechanisms distinguishing CG from Noncomplicated Grief (NCG) are unclear, but hypothesized mechanisms include both pain-related activity (related to the social pain of loss) and reward-related activity (related to attachment behavior). Bereaved women (11 CG, 12 NCG) participated in an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, during grief elicitation with idiographic stimuli. Analyses revealed that whereas both CG and NCG participants showed pain-related neural activity in response to reminders of the deceased, only those with CG showed reward-related activity in the nucleus accumbens (NA). This NA cluster was positively correlated with self-reported yearning, but not with time since death, participant age, or positive/negative affect. This study supports the hypothesis that attachment activates reward pathways. For those with CG, reminders of the deceased still activate neural reward activity, which may interfere with adapting to the loss in the present.
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In those with complicated grief, viewing images of a deceased loved one also results in increased activity in the NAc, and this activation is correlated with the degree of yearning for the loved one.
“In those with CG, viewing these images also results in increased activity in the NAc, and this activation is correlated with the degree of yearning for the loved one.”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [174]
The Results report greater nucleus accumbens activity in the complicated-grief group when deceased photographs were compared with stranger photographs in the first third of trials; that activity was associated with yearning (r=.36, p<.05). The claim omits the early-trials qualification: the comparison across all photograph trials did not produce nucleus accumbens activity. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAffected brain areas in prolonged grief disorder include the amygdala, the orbitofrontal cortex, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, the nucleus accumbens and the insula.
“Affected areas include the amygdala, the orbitofrontal cortex, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, the nucleus accumbens and the insula 96-101 .”
From Emerging experience with selected new categories in the <scp>ICD</scp>‐11: complex <scp>PTSD</scp>, prolonged grief disorder, gaming disorder, and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder (2022) · cites this paper as [97]
The Abstract and Results report nucleus accumbens activation in complicated grief and insula activity during grief elicitation, although the reported insula difference was greater in the noncomplicated-grief group. The Discussion mentions subgenual anterior cingulate activation only in connection with prior research; the paper does not report the amygdala or orbitofrontal cortex as affected areas. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.89)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredWhen viewing images of a deceased loved one, the brain regions associated with the pain network (ACC, IC, PAG) are activated in those with non-CG and CG alike.
“When viewing images of a deceased loved one, the brain regions associated with the pain network (ACC, IC, PAG) are activated in those with non-CG and CG alike [174].”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [174]
Acute grief after a relationship breakup or the loss of an unborn child is related to intense responses of the physical pain network encompassing the anterior cingulate cortex and insula.
“In fact, acute grief after a relationship breakup (128,129) or the loss of an unborn child (130) is related to intense responses of the physical pain network encompassing the ACC and insula.”
From Dissecting the Role of Oxytocin in the Formation and Loss of Social Relationships (2016) · cites this paper as [129]
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- Authors
- O'Connor, M.-F., Wellisch, D. K., Stanton, A. L., Eisenberger, N. I., Irwin, M. R., & Lieberman, M. D.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- O'Connor, Mary-Frances
- ORCID
- Venue
- NeuroImage
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-08
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 969-972
- ISSN
- 1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2553561
- OpenAlex
- W2141697463
- Cited by
- 317
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 14.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- California Breast Cancer Research Program
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG026364, P30AG028748, K01AG028404)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL079955)
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH019925, T32 MH 19925)
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA119159)
- National Center for Research Resources (M01RR000865)
- Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- complicated grief, nucleus accumbens, reward processing, social pain, attachment, bereavement
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Physiological, Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Brain, Grief, Humans, Male, Reward, Task Performance and Analysis
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