Biology subjects

Willeit, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Willeit, M..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Opioids modulate Curiosity-Driven Exploration in Music

Curiosity, a key driver of exploration and learning, is reinforced by reward-related neurochemical systems, yet the role of the opioidergic system in modulating this behavior remains unclear. Music, as a highly rewarding stimulus, offers a unique context to investigate the neurochemical basis of curiosity, particularly the unexplored role of opioids in music-driven exploration. To fill this gap, we performed a double-blind within-subject pharmacological design, in which 26 participants received, in two different sessions, either a placebo or the opioid antagonist naltrexone. During each session, participants engaged in a music exploration/exploitation trade-off paradigm designed to assess their willingness to pay for exploring unfamiliar electronic music. Using logistic regression mixed-effects models, we found that while naltrexone did not affect overall curiosity ratings, it significantly reduced exploratory behavior in states of heightened curiosity. These findings suggest that the opioidergic system plays a critical role in regulating the relationship between curiosity and exploration, particularly in the context of novel and rewarding stimuli like music. Overall, the present research provides new and compelling evidence on the important relationship between curiosity and exploration and its regulation with the opioidergic neurotransmitter subsystem. Significance StatementThe present research aimed to advance our understanding of the neurochemical mechanisms underlying curiosity and information seeking. In our study, we employed a pharmacological design to examine the role of the opioidergic system in music-related exploration. Using a novel music exploration/exploitation paradigm, we found that while naltrexone, an opioid antagonist, did not affect baseline curiosity ratings, it markedly reduced exploratory behavior during high-curiosity states in the presence of potential monetary losses. These results provide new evidence that opioidergic modulation plays a critical role in regulating curiosity-driven exploration. This new evidence might be relevant in the future for better understanding how neurochemical systems shape learning, motivation, and affective responses in complex cognitive domains such as music.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Effects of dopamine and opioid receptor antagonism on the neural processing of social and non-social rewards

Rewards are a broad category of stimuli inducing approach behavior to aid survival. Extensive evidence from animal research has shown that wanting (the motivation to pursue a reward) and liking (the pleasure associated with its consumption) are mostly regulated by dopaminergic and opioidergic activity in dedicated brain areas. However, less is known about the neuroanatomy of dopaminergic and opioidergic regulation of reward processing in humans, especially when considering different types of rewards (i.e., social and non-social). To fill this gap of knowledge, we combined dopaminergic and opioidergic antagonism (via amisulpride and naltrexone administration) with functional neuroimaging to investigate the neurochemical and neuroanatomical bases of wanting and liking of matched non-social (food) and social (interpersonal touch) rewards, using a randomized, between-subject, placebo-controlled, double-blind design. While at the behavioral level no drug effect was observed, brain activity was modulated by the administered compounds. In particular, opioid antagonism, compared to placebo, was associated with reduced activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex during consumption of the most valued social and non-social rewards. Dopamine antagonism, however, had no clear effects on brain activity in response to rewards anticipation. These findings provide insights into the neurobiology of human reward processing and suggest a similar opioidergic regulation of the neural responses to social and non-social reward consumption.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Effects of dopamine D2 and opioid receptor antagonism on the trade-off between model-based and model-free behavior in healthy volunteers

Our daily behaviour requires a flexible arbitration between actions we do out of habit and actions that are directed towards a specific goal. Drugs that target opioid and dopamine receptors are notorious for inducing maladaptive habitual drug consumption, yet how the opioidergic and dopaminergic neurotransmitter systems contribute to the arbitration between habitual and goal-directed behaviour is poorly understood. By combining pharmacological challenges with a well-established decision-making task and a novel computational model, we show that the administration of the D2 dopamine receptor antagonist amisulpride led to an increase in goal-directed or model-based relative to habitual or model-free behaviour, whereas the non-selective opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone had no appreciable effect. These findings highlight the distinct functional contributions of dopamine and opioid receptors to goal-directed and habitual behaviour and support the notion that D2 receptor antagonists promote stabilisation of goal-relevant information.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Enhanced negative response to stress following morphine administration increases wanting of social reward

Animal research suggests a central role of the -opioid receptor (MOR) system in regulating affiliative behaviors and in mediating the stress-buffering function of social contact. However, the neurochemistry of stress-related social contact seeking in humans is still poorly understood. In a randomized, double-blind, between-subject design, healthy female volunteers (N = 80) received either 10 mg of the -opioid agonist morphine sulfate, or a placebo. Following a standardized psychosocial stress induction, participants engaged in a social reward task, in which the motivation to obtain skin-to-skin social touch and the hedonic reactions elicited by such touch were assessed. Morphine prevented the increase of salivary cortisol typically observed following acute stress exposure. Notably, this altered HPA axis responsivity was associated with increased negative affect in response to psychosocial stress, and with enhanced subjective wanting of highly rewarding social contact. These findings provide novel evidence on the effect of exogenous opioids administration on the reactions to psychosocial stress and point to a state-dependent regulation of social motivation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Dopaminergic and opioidergic regulation of implicit and explicit wanting and liking of social and nonsocial rewards

The observation of animal hedonic orofacial and behavioral reactions has played a fundamental role for the identification of a dopaminergic motivational, and an opioidergic hedonic component of reward. Translation to humans remains difficult, however, as human research has struggled to adopt a similar operationalization of reward. Here, we investigated the neurochemical basis of hedonic facial and behavioral reactions to different types of rewards in healthy adult volunteers, by pharmacologically reducing dopaminergic and opiodergic receptor-specific action. Subjective ratings, physical effort, and facial reactions to matched primary social (affective touch) and nonsocial (food) rewards were assessed. Both drugs resulted in reduced physical effort and increased negative facial reactions during reward anticipation, but only opioidergic manipulation caused reduced positive facial reactions during reward consumption. This suggest that facial reactions during anticipated and experienced pleasure rely on partly different neurochemical systems, providing novel evidence in support of existing theoretical models of reward.

neuroscience↗