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Neurocognitive Evidence for Value-Based Learning Alterations in Prolonged Grief | title | Neurocognitive Evidence for Value-Based Learning Alterations in Prolonged Grief |
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| start_date | 2026/03/23 |
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| schedule | 15h15 |
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| online | no |
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| location_info | Room B10 |
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| summary | While the grieving process is highly personal and rarely linear, in approximately 5-10% of bereaved people, grieving remains so severe, debilitating, and unremitting that it continues to predominate long-term daily functioning (i.e., at least one year after the loss). Formerly known as “complicated grief” and currently termed prolonged grief disorder (PGD), this syndrome is empirically distinct from PTSD and major depression, has unique neurobiological correlates, and is consistently linked to negative outcomes including excess mortality and morbidity, accelerated cognitive aging, suicidality, and social disconnection. From a neurocognitive perspective, “typical” or healthy grieving can be conceptualized as a process of reconciling two competing internal models, or beliefs: one that accommodates the reality of the death, and another that rejects it. PGD is thought to reflect a severe inhibition in value-based learning that interferes with the ability to integrate what one knew was true in the past with what is true now. However, the neurocognitive and computational mechanisms that operationalize learning in this context are unknown: until now, the idea that stalled learning is implicated in PGD has largely been theoretical or indirect. This presentation will share novel data from an fMRI study of adults bereaved >12 months with and without a clinical diagnosis of PGD. Specifically, I will show convergent behavioral and neuroimaging evidence of alterations in value-based learning and updating functions across two probabilistic reversal learning tasks, highly consistent with the clinical presentation and phenomenology of PGD. Domain-general learning mechanisms represent a potential new target for intervention or augmentation that may help the significant proportion of treatment-seeking people with PGD who do not substantially benefit from even our best evidence-based treatments. |
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| responsibles | Allen |
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Workflow history| from state (1) | to state | comment | date |
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| submitted | published | | 2026/03/16 14:50 UTC |
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