Cognitive-emotional integration – reward and happiness
By Lizzie Gurwitz UA ’24 and Jim Stellar
Basic reward is thought to be a result of a neural process of the limbic (emotional) system. More specifically, reward is thought to come out of the activity and release of the neurotransmitter dopamine by a brainstem nucleus called the ventral tegmental area (VTA). The VTA sends that dopamine signal forward into the limbic system’s nucleus accumbens (NAc). These brain structures (VTA and NAc) and others have been heavily studied in rats in normal reward and in drug addiction because they are similar to humans. This was the subject of 20+ years of laboratory research by JS before he went into senior academic administration and then returned to the faculty to work on writing with his students like LG. In both rats and humans, this VTA-to-Accumbens structure supports reward experiences, like the pleasure experienced from eating chocolate or from taking cocaine. This structure also supports the learned/motivational effects of craving, which can be very strong in cocaine addicts. If this function is basic emotional reward, how does that get turned into a more cognitive happiness? That is the question that JS and LG decided to take on in this blog.
Happiness is a state of cognition for which we as humans strive. But what is happiness cognitively and how is it achieved? Professor Dan Gilbert has an intriguing TED Talk on this topic, specifically regarding the concept that he calls ‘synthetic happiness.’ Synthetic happiness occurs all of the time, even in seemingly unfortunate moments in which a person would not typically expect to find joy, yet it is there. We will explain later. Gilbert’s ideas suggest that synthetic happiness is created in the cognitive brain, and is a real form of happiness that is neurological, just as is the function of the VTA-to-Accumbens system. The significance of this difference is that synthetic happiness is not just an emotion that will pop up when circumstances allow. It is created through the power of cognition. The problem with synthetic happiness is that it can be way off in its prediction for the long-term future as Gilbert stresses in his TED talk.
One reward-relevant notion that deserves mentioning is the idea that in calculating something as a reward it does not have to be a firing of the dopamine systems to produce what we think of as positive pleasure. It has long been known in psychology that any movement for more negative to less negative is able to be what Skinner called a reinforcer. Psychologists make sense of this by referring to what is called a “hedonic continuum” where movement from the negative toward the positive is pleasant even if it does not get to actual reward. You can think of someone who has a headache and takes an aspirin or something to reduce the headache. That person has experienced such a movement in the hedonic continuum and will describe that as a good thing. They will also repeat the behavior if the headache reappears. This is part of discussions of hedonic value that are a bit beyond the scope of this blog.
Let’s go back to the limbic system and ask: How does limbic reward get turned into cognitive happiness? For that we first tell the story of the VTA and the reward prediction error below. Then that will take us to the cognitive/symbolic processor in the neocortex and particularly in the prefrontal cortex where our plans are made.
The Reward Prediction Error
To start, if happiness (or at least reward) is linked to dopamine then the story of Professor Wolfram Schultz and the VTA is potentially important. Brandy Eggan even wrote a blog about it. The basic idea was that the dopamine neurons in the VTA fired whenever a reward was experienced. However if that reward was paired with a conditioned stimulus that predicted the reward occurrence, the VTA neurons fired to the conditioned stimulus and not to the reward that followed. In fact when that reward arrived, the VTA neurons simply maintained their baseline firing as though nothing had happened. It looked like the reward neurons were chasing what predicted the reward and not the reward itself. That in itself is an interesting idea.
The final part of the experiment was to leave out the reward. At this point the VTA neurons fired normally to the conditioned stimulus. After all, how were they to know that the reward was not going to arrive? When the reward did not arrive when expected, the VTA neurons firing rate dipped below baseline. The conclusion at the time was that it was the VTA that was detecting the change in the reinforcement conditions, particularly in the third phase and that became known as the reward prediction error. We thought the VTA was “smart.”
But that is not the end of the story. Vanessa Nyblom wrote a later blog that pointed out that the prefrontal cortex of the rat has direct connections to the VTA through a glutamate neurotransmitter pathway. It even connects with the NAc. That could mean that it was this cortical area that was really producing the pattern we just discussed in the VTA. And the prefrontal cortex has a reputation for being involved in planning. Maybe it was controlling the VTA. Maybe it accounted for all of the “smart” phenomena discussed above. Maybe the VTA is the piano and the prefrontal cortex is the piano player. While one can see the “music” in the piano, we know it comes from the player and the piano is just an instrument. This issue will require more research. And since studies show that the prefrontal cortex in humans is proportionally much bigger and more developed (2.5 times) than in a rat, we may need brain scanners to get at the human answer.
The prefrontal cortex as a planner
There is plenty of evidence that happiness is part of thinking and planning. For example, anticipated emotion-based choice theory uses various gambling simulations to further look into this relationship.
When gambling, there is an observable pattern of people choosing options in which their perceived anticipated happiness is the highest. Anticipated emotions almost seem to make the decision for people and the paper sets a contrast between anticipated and experienced emotions. This may be the same phenomenon as discussed above, but now we would say that the prefrontal cortex is using anticipated emotions in its planning, which is, of course, based on the subject’s history of experienced emotions. We will skip the mathematics in this paper and focus on two key sentences from the gambling task studies cited here.
“…. decision makers reacted more strongly to unexpected outcomes. Surprising wins were more pleasurable than expected wins, and surprising losses were more painful than expected losses.” This overweighting of surprise is natural. If things have changed, as in the reward prediction error discussed above, the planning frontal cortex should make new plans.
To open a new avenue of thinking here, one way a person may reach a feeling of happiness is through fulfillment, but how is that reached? Subjective Expected Utility Theory focuses on the preferences and beliefs of individuals that can be used as a means for setting and reaching goals. A person’s actions must be in line with their beliefs and vice versa i.e. a student goes into a semester with their own personal plans for what will make their semester “successful” including social goals, involvement in extracurriculars, and passing all of their courses. Even if they don’t end up with a 4.0 GPA which some might say is the objective goal of academics, the student met their own version and definition of success, causing them to feel accomplished and fulfilled for the time being. This may be a key point towards how one may achieve happiness. There is not one answer that fits all but we hope there must be an individualized answer based on each individual’s priorities. This is important beyond college as a recent Gallup poll shows that only 33% of Americans report feeling engaged in their current jobs. We will return to this point later where we discuss how a student’s plans (anticipated happiness) are changed by the experience of an internship while they are in college.
Humans are bad at predicting long-term happiness
We know that the brain is notoriously bad at predicting long-term happiness. This was seen in Gilbert’s TED Talk, as mentioned above. Yet the prefrontal cortex still plans and makes decisions influenced by predictions of potential happiness. In the Emotion-Based Choice paper (cited above), there is an experiment described which focuses on anticipated versus actual emotions. The outcome of this experiment shows some very clear evidence that we as humans can predict our emotions pretty accurately based on different hypothetical outcomes. This unfortunately only refers to short-term emotions about rather simple outcomes. It therefore does not account for decision making that could lead to experiencing long-term happiness thus not contradicting Gilbert’s point that hedonic equilibrium occurs and it is not anticipated at time of planning and decision making. This becomes evident on reflection much later when what pushed around the happiness of the subject (e.g. winning the lottery or getting permanently hurt in an accident) has long passed and the subject finally returns to their standard self-estimate of happiness.
Side Note: We want to mention here that this kind of prediction of what makes a student happy and what could be a possible career is exactly the goal of experiential education in college. “Try before you buy” is a common saying. The workplace internship in college could be that “try” before the student “buys” that career with much study now and possible further education later. We will come back to this point later.
The fact of unpredictability
The issue we now face is the fact that life is not simple nor predictable. In gambling, you either win, lose, or break even, but in life there is an infinite amount of potential outcomes from any given situation. A person can only predict based on lived experiences how they might feel in a situation they put themself in, but life can easily go in a completely different direction than expected. Knowing this, how can a person make choices and decisions that could lead to happiness.
Life is a constant gamble, you never know what is to come.?? The goal is to find a balance between the comfort of predictability and the overweighted surprises that will come along for better or for worse. For college students and other people in transitional phases, this balance can be way off as there are likely so many unknowns. This raises the importance of internships and experiential learning opportunities. Through these opportunities students gather lived experience which gives them a leg up when making decisions about what next steps are to come.
One thing we can now solidly state is that we are awful at predicting our long term happiness. While goals are important, reaching them will have minimal effect on overall happiness throughout life. With this in mind through the internship experience, students must keep more than just their career goals in mind. Through lived experience it is important for people to determine their strengths and values. When choosing a career path or really making any decision in life, making the choice that aligns with these core values rather than long term goals is what will create congruence. This is where I (LG) believe from where some level of long term happiness can stem.
As mentioned above when discussing anticipated emotion-based choice theory, surprises whether perceived as positive or negative, will be experienced more intensely than the predictable experiences. This is not something that should be avoided. The unknown should be expected and even looked forward to. All emotions, positive and negative alike, will eventually be adapted to. Equilibrium will be reached at the end of the day. These surprises that come along with life could be used as a chance for a person to learn more about themself. The stronger a person’s sense of self is, the easier it will be to make decisions in life that will align with their values that will in turn lead to some level of fulfillment.
Final section – Lizzie gives life advice.
Emotions are fleeting and adapted to. We overestimate the impact that a decision may have on us, especially emotionally in the long term. So, is there a way to keep our positive feelings of happiness “fresh” to the point that it doesn’t fade away? Routines are important, but don’t get too stuck in one. If one decision or action isn’t going to keep you happy in the long run, it is important to stop. Regularly try new things and explore new ideas whether they are big or small, this can help to keep happiness feeling fresh.
