Probing reward function in post-traumatic stress disorder with beautiful facial images Igor Elman a, * , Dan Ariely b , Nina Mazar b , Itzhak Aharon c , Natasha B. Lasko c,d , Michael L. Macklin d , Scott P. Orr c,d , Scott E. Lukas a , Roger K. Pitman c a Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478, USA b Program in Media Arts and Sciences and Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA c Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA d Research Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Manchester, NH 03104, USA Received 1 September 2004; received in revised form 26 April 2005; accepted 27 April 2005 Abstract Reward dysfunction may be implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study applied a behavioral probe, known to activate brain reward regions, to subjects with PTSD. Male heterosexual Vietnam veterans with (n = 12) or without (n =11) current PTSD were administered two tasks: (a) key pressing to change the viewing time of average or beautiful female or male facial images, and (b) rating the attractiveness of these images. There were no significant group differences in the attractiveness ratings. However, PTSD patients expended less effort to extend the viewing time of the beautiful female faces. These findings suggest a reward deficit in PTSD. D 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Stress disorders; Post-traumatic; Face; Beauty; Reward 1. Introduction Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a com- plex condition with features beyond anxiety. Among these are symptoms of bemotional numbingQ, which include diminished interest in significant activities, feelings of detachment or estrangement from others, restricted range of affect, and sense of a foreshor- tened future (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). The pathophysiological significance of emotional numbing remains unclear. One interpretation posits that processing of emotional stimuli in PTSD is es- sentially normal, but expression of positive feelings is constrained by painful affects triggered by trauma- 0165-1781/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2005.04.002 * Corresponding author. Behavioral Psychopharmacology Re- search Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street Belmont, MA 02478, USA. Tel.: +1 617 855 3692; fax: +1 617 855 3711. E-mail address: ielman@partners.org (I. Elman). Psychiatry Research 135 (2005) 179 – 183 www.elsevier.com/locate/psychres