ArticlePsychological science2013
Sustained striatal activity predicts eudaimonic well-being and cortisol output.
Article in Psychological science, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 150 citations in OpenAlex.
- Human neural correlates of emotional well-being (EWB): a preliminary systematic review and meta-analysis of MRI studies based on a recent consensus definition.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Positive Psychology: Looking Back and Looking Forward.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- The neural correlates of well-being: A systematic review of the human neuroimaging and neuropsychological literature.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- A Web-Based Intervention Using "Five Ways to Wellbeing" to Promote Well-Being and Mental Health: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mental health · 2024Trial
- Measuring change in anhedonia using the "Happy Faces" task pre- to post-repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD): relation to empathic happiness.Translational psychiatry · 2019Trial
- Amygdala-putamen connectivity links gratitude to greater well-being.Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Sustained dorsolateral prefrontal cortex response to prosocial reward predicts lower real-world negative emotional inertia.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Cumulative stress and epigenetic aging: Examining the role of psychological moderators.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- Association between subjective well-being and low muscle mass among Chinese older adults: a nationwide cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Educational disparities in 20-year trajectories of psychological well-being in a national sample.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Frontocortical activity and emotional experience in the context of daily life events.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Correlation between mild cognitive impairment and flourishing among Chinese residents: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Neurobehavioral Mechanisms Influencing the Association Between Generativity, the Desire to Promote Well-Being of Younger Generations, and Purpose in Life in Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2024Article
- Neurobiological sensitivity to popular peers moderates daily links between social media use and affect.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2024Article
- Contributions of Eudaimonic Well-Being to Mental Health Practice.Mental health and social inclusion · 2023Article
- Habitual Expressive Suppression of Positive, but not Negative, Emotions Consistently Predicts Lower Well-being across Two Culturally Distinct Regions.Affective science · 2023Article
- If you're happy and you know it: neural correlates of self-evaluated psychological health and well-being.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2023Article
- Abnormal functional connectivity of the nucleus accumbens subregions mediates the association between anhedonia and major depressive disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- A Perfect Storm to Set the Stage for Ontological Exploration: Response to Commentaries on "Emotional Well-Being: What It Is and Why It Matters".Affective science · 2023Article
- Brain imaging studies of emotional well-being: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Eudaimonic well-being-a sense of purpose, meaning, and engagement with life-is protective against psychopathology and predicts physical health, including lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Although it has been suggested that the ability to engage the neural circuitry of reward may promote well-being and mediate the relationship between well-being and health, this hypothesis has remained untested. To test this hypothesis, we had participants view positive, neutral, and negative images while fMRI data were collected. Individuals with sustained activity in the striatum and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to positive stimuli over the course of the scan session reported greater well-being and had lower cortisol output. This suggests that sustained engagement of reward circuitry in response to positive events underlies well-being and adaptive regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.