The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on the Neural Substrates Associated with Pleasure

Authors

Michael E. Silverman, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peter Muennig, Columbia University
Xun Liu, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Zohn Rosen, CUNY Brooklyn College
Martin A. Goldstein, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

August 2009

Abstract

Low socio-economic status (SES) is associated with increased morbidity and premature mortality. Because tonic adversity relates to a diminished ability to experience pleasure, we hypothesized that subjects living in poverty would show diminished neural responsivity to positive stimuli in regions associated with positive experience and reward. Visual images were presented to twenty-two subjects in the context of a EPI-BOLD fMRI paradigm. Significant differences in neural responses between SES groups to poverty vs. neutral images were assessed, examining group, condition, and interaction effects. The data suggest that persons living in low-SES have neural experiences consistent with diminished interest in things generally enjoyed and point toward a possible explanation for the relationship between socioeconomic inequalities and mood disorders, such as depression, by SES.

Comments

This work was originally published in The Open Neuroimaging Journal, available at doi:10.2174/1874440000903010058.