Diurnal rhythms in psychological reward functioning in healthy young men: 'Wanting', liking, and learning

A range of evidence suggests that human reward functioning is partly driven by the endogenous circadian system, generating 24-hour rhythms in behavioural measures of reward activation. Reward functioning is multifaceted but literature to date is largely limited to measures of self-reported positive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chronobiology international 2017-02, Vol.34 (2), p.287-295
Main Authors: Byrne, Jamie E. M., Murray, Greg
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Algorithms
Appetite
Circadian Rhythm
Circadian rhythms
Decision Making
diurnal rhythms
Emotions - physiology
Humans
Learning
Male
Motivation
Reproducibility of Results
Reward
Risk-Taking
wanting
Young Adult
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Summary:A range of evidence suggests that human reward functioning is partly driven by the endogenous circadian system, generating 24-hour rhythms in behavioural measures of reward activation. Reward functioning is multifaceted but literature to date is largely limited to measures of self-reported positive mood states. The aim of this study was to advance the field by testing for hypothesised diurnal variation in previously unexplored components of psychological reward: 'wanting', liking, and learning using subjective and behavioural measures. Risky decision making (automatic Balloon Analogue Risk Task), affective responsivity to positive images (International Affective Pictures System), uncued self-reported discrete emotions, and learning-contingent reward (Iowa Gambling Task) were measured at 10.00 hours, 14.00 hours, and 19.00 hours in a counterbalanced repeated measures design with 50 healthy male participants (aged 18-30). As hypothesised, risky decision making (unconscious 'wanting') and ratings of arousal towards positive images (conscious wanting) exhibited a diurnal waveform with indices highest at 14.00 hours. No diurnal rhythm was observed for liking (pleasure ratings to positive images, discrete uncued positive emotions) or in a learning-contingent reward task. Findings reaffirm that diurnal variation in human reward functioning is most pronounced in the motivational 'wanting' components of reward.
ISSN:0742-0528
1525-6073
DOI:10.1080/07420528.2016.1272607