Maternal suicidality interacts with blunted reward processing to prospectively predict increases in depressive symptoms in 8-to-14-year-old girls

AbstractBackgroundAberrations in reward and penalty processing are implicated in depression and putatively reflect altered dopamine signalling. This study exploits the advantages of a placebo-controlled design to examine how a novel D2antagonist with adjunctive antidepressant properties modifies activity in the brain's reward network in depression.MethodsWe recruited 43 medication-naïve subjects across the range of depression severity (Beck's Depression Inventory-II score range: 0–43), including healthy volunteers, as well as people meeting full-criteria for major depressive disorder. In a double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over design, all subjects received either placebo or lurasidone (20 mg) across two visits separated by 1 week. Functional magnetic resonance imaging with the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task assessed reward functions via neural responses during anticipation and receipt of gains and losses. Arterial spin labelling measured cerebral blood flow (CBF) at rest.ResultsLurasidone altered fronto-striatal activity during anticipation and outcome phases of the MID task. A significant three-way Medication-by-Depression severity-by-Outcome interaction emerged in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) after correction for multiple comparisons. Follow-up analyses revealed significantly higher ACC activation to losses in high-v.low depression participants in the placebo condition, with a normalisation by lurasidone. This effect could not be accounted for by shifts in resting CBF.ConclusionsLurasidone acutely normalises reward processing signals in individuals with depressive symptoms. Lurasidone's antidepressant effects may arise from reducing responses to penalty outcomes in individuals with depressive symptoms.

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A randomized trial of aerobic exercise for major depression: examining neural indicators of reward and cognitive control as predictors and treatment targets

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291720002573 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

C. J. Brush ◽

Greg Hajcak ◽

Anthony J. Bocchine ◽

Andrew A. Ude ◽

Kristina M. Muniz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Depressive Symptom ◽

Major Depression ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Aerobic Exercise ◽

Symptom Severity ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Symptom Reduction ◽

Depressive Symptom Severity ◽

Pre Treatment

Abstract Background Aerobic exercise has demonstrated antidepressant efficacy among adults with major depression. There is a poor understanding of the neural mechanisms associated with these effects. Deficits in reward processing and cognitive control may be two candidate targets and predictors of treatment outcome to exercise in depression. Methods Sixty-six young adults aged 20.23 years (s.d. = 2.39) with major depression were randomized to 8 weeks of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (n = 35) or light stretching (n = 31). Depressive symptoms were assessed across the intervention to track symptom reduction. Reward processing [reward positivity (RewP)] and cognitive control [error-related negativity (ERN)] were assessed before and after the intervention using event-related brain potentials. Results Compared to stretching, aerobic exercise resulted in greater symptom reduction (gs = 0.66). Aerobic exercise had no impact on the RewP (gav = 0.08) or ERN (gav = 0.21). In the aerobic exercise group, individuals with a larger pre-treatment RewP [odds ratio (OR) = 1.45] and increased baseline depressive symptom severity (OR = 1.18) were more likely to respond to an aerobic exercise program. Pre-treatment ERN did not predict response (OR = 0.74). Conclusions Aerobic exercise is effective in alleviating depressive symptoms in adults with major depression, particularly for those with increased depressive symptom severity and a larger RewP at baseline. Although aerobic exercise did not modify the RewP or ERN, there is preliminary support for the utility of the RewP in predicting who is most likely to respond to exercise as a treatment for depression.

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Problematic smartphone use: The role of reward processing, depressive symptoms and self-control

Addictive Behaviors ◽

10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107015 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107015

Author(s):

Robert West ◽

Carl Ash ◽

Ashley Dapore ◽

Bridget Kirby ◽

Kaitlyn Malley ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Self Control ◽

Problematic Smartphone Use ◽

Smartphone Use

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Reward Processing in Adolescent Depression Across Neuroimaging Modalities

Zeitschrift für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie ◽

10.1024/1422-4917/a000663 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (6) ◽

pp. 535-541 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Georgia O’Callaghan ◽

Argyris Stringaris

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Adolescent Depression ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Neural Processing ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Resonance Imaging ◽

Community Based ◽

Current Review ◽

Future Work

Abstract. Depressive symptoms have long been associated with abnormalities in neural processing of reward. However, no review has yet consolidated evidence of such deficits in adolescent depression, integrating findings across neuroimaging modalities, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). The current review found consistent evidence of reduced striatal responses in anticipation and upon receipt of rewards, and blunted feedback-related negativity (FRN) potentials associated with depression in adolescence, consistent with the adult literature. Furthermore, while these occurred in currently depressed adolescents, they were also found to be predictive of the onset of depressive symptoms in longitudinal studies with community-based adolescent samples. This paper makes recommendations for future work to continue to elucidate this relationship, a greater understanding of which may lead to more targeted and efficacious treatments for depression in adolescence.

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Anhedonia sub-components and reward and effort learning for primary and secondary rewards in young people with depression symptoms

10.31234/osf.io/dr2wp ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anna-Lena Frey ◽

Siyabend Kaya ◽

Irina Adeniyi ◽

Ciara McCabe

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Young People ◽

Learning Task ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Reward Learning ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Depression Symptom ◽

Treatment Development ◽

Anticipatory Anhedonia ◽

Completion Times

Background: Anhedonia, a central depression symptom, is associated with impairments in reward processing. However how the sub-components of reward processing (anticipation, motivation, consummation and learning) are related to depression symptoms is not well understood. In particular, little is known about how effort cost and reward learning is related to anhedonia.Methods: We recruited young people with high (N=50) and low (N=88) depression symptoms and assessed their learning, consummatory, anticipatory, and motivational responses within an effort and reward learning task. To increase the reward attractiveness, especially for younger people, we included not only money (secondary reward), but also chocolate tastes and puppy images (primary rewards).Results: Across all participants, we found that self-reported willingness to exert effort positively correlated with actual effort exertion and negatively with effort completion times. We also observed higher accuracy for reward learning vs. effort learning. Additionally, effort expenditure differed between reward types, although no differences in reward liking were observed. Interestingly, we also found that higher anticipatory anhedonia was associated with lower reward learning accuracy. Limitations: The study assessed only depressive symptoms, not clinically diagnosed major depression. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine reward and effort learning simultaneously in young people with depression symptoms. Our findings suggest a differentiation between motivational and consummatory responses, as well as between reward and effort learning. Moreover, we show that anticipatory anhedonia is related to reward learning. Understanding the link between objective reward processing and anhedonia sub-types could provide new targets for treatment development.

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Real-life validation of reduced reward processing in emerging adults with depressive symptoms.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology ◽

10.1037/abn0000294 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 126 (6) ◽

pp. 713-725 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Jindra Myrthe Bakker ◽

Liesbet Goossens ◽

Iris Lange ◽

Stijn Michielse ◽

Koen Schruers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Emerging Adults ◽

Real Life ◽

Reward Processing

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Influence of apathy and depressive symptoms on reward processing in schizophrenia

International Clinical Psychopharmacology ◽

10.1097/01.yic.0000405833.85797.a8 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. e118

Author(s):

Joe Simon ◽

Armin Biller ◽

Stephan Walther ◽

Christoph Stippich ◽

Matthias Weisbrod ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Reward Processing

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Stressful life events moderate the effect of neural reward responsiveness in childhood on depressive symptoms in adolescence

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291719001557 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (9) ◽

pp. 1548-1555 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Brandon L. Goldstein ◽

Ellen M. Kessel ◽

Autumn Kujawa ◽

Megan C. Finsaas ◽

Joanne Davila ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Life Events ◽

Stressful Life Events ◽

Community Sample ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Self Report ◽

Stressful Life ◽

Depression Symptoms

AbstractBackgroundReward processing deficits have been implicated in the etiology of depression. A blunted reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential elicited by feedback to monetary gain relative to loss, predicts new onsets and increases in depression symptoms. Etiological models of depression also highlight stressful life events. However, no studies have examined whether stressful life events moderate the effect of the RewP on subsequent depression symptoms. We examined this question during the key developmental transition from childhood to adolescence.MethodsA community sample of 369 children (mean age of 9) completed a self-report measure of depression symptoms. The RewP to winning v. losing was elicited using a monetary reward task. Three years later, we assessed stressful life events occurring in the year prior to the follow-up. Youth depressive symptoms were rated by the children and their parents at baseline and follow-up.ResultsStressful life events moderated the effect of the RewP on depression symptoms at follow-up such that a blunted RewP predicted higher depression symptoms in individuals with higher levels of stressful life events. This effect was also evident when events that were independent of the youth's behavior were examined separately.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the RewP reflects a vulnerability for depression that is activated by stress.

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Reward processing electrophysiology in schizophrenia: Effects of age and illness phase

10.1101/2020.06.18.158469 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Samantha V. Abram ◽

Brian J. Roach ◽

CB Holroyd ◽

MP Paulus ◽

Judith M. Ford ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Slot Machine ◽

Outcome Evaluation ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Chronological Age ◽

Reward Anticipation ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Brain Age ◽

Illness Phase ◽

Age Estimates

AbstractBackgroundReward processing abnormalities may underlie characteristic pleasure and motivational impairments in schizophrenia. Some neural measures of reward processing show strong age-related modulation, highlighting the importance of considering age effects on reward sensitivity. We compared event-related potentials (ERPs) reflecting reward anticipation (stimulus-preceding negativity, SPN) and evaluation (reward positivity, RewP; late-positive potential, LPP) across individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HC), with an emphasis on examining effects of chronological age, brain age (i.e., predicted age based on neurobiological measures), and illness phase.MethodsSubjects underwent EEG while completing a slot-machine task for which rewards were not dependent on performance accuracy, speed, or other preparatory demands. Slot-machine task EEG responses were compared between 54 SZ and 54 HC individuals, ages 19 to 65. Reward-related ERPs were analyzed with respect to chronological age, categorically-defined illness phase (early; ESZ versus chronic schizophrenia; CSZ), and were used to model brain age relative to chronological age.ResultsIllness phase-focused analyses indicated there were no group differences in average SPN or RewP amplitudes. However, a group x reward outcome interaction revealed that ESZ differed from HC in later outcome processing, reflected by greater LPP responses following loss versus reward (a reversal of the HC pattern). While brain age estimates did not differ among groups, depressive symptoms in SZ were associated with older brain age estimates while controlling for negative symptoms.ConclusionsESZ and CSZ did not differ from HC in reward anticipation or early outcome processing during a cognitively undemanding reward task, highlighting areas of preserved functioning. However, ESZ showed altered later reward outcome evaluation, pointing to selective reward deficits during the early illness phase of schizophrenia. Further, an association between ERP-derived brain age and depressive symptoms in SZ extends prior findings linking depression with reward-related ERP blunting. Taken together, both illness phase and age may impact reward processing in SZ, and brain aging may offer a promising, novel marker of reward dysfunction that warrants further study.

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Orbitofrontal Cortex Grey Matter Volume is Related to Children's Depressive Symptoms

10.31234/osf.io/5dbg4 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew Richard John Vandermeer ◽

Pan Liu ◽

Ola Mohamed Ali ◽

Andrew Daoust ◽

Marc F Joanisse ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Maternal Depression ◽

Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽

Grey Matter ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Grey Matter Volume ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Depression History

Adults with a history of depression show distinct patterns of grey matter volume (GMV) in frontal cortical (e.g., prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex) and limbic (e.g., anterior cingulate, amygdala, hippocampus, dorsal striatum) structures, regions relevant to the processing and regulation of reward, which is impaired in the context of depression. However, it is unclear whether these GMV associations with depression precede depressive disorder onset or whether GMV is related to early emerging symptoms or familial depression. To address these questions, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to examine GMV in 85 community-dwelling children (M = 11.12 years, SD = .63 years) screened for current and lifetime depression. Associations between children’s depressive symptoms (self- and mother-report of children’s symptoms), children’s maternal depression history, and GMV were examined. Although maternal depression history was unrelated to children’s GMV, child GMV in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was negatively related to children’s self-reported depressive symptoms, using both a priori ROI and whole-brain analyses. Moderated regression analyses indicated that girls’ GMV was negatively related to girls’ depressive symptoms (as indexed by both self- and mother-report of girls’ symptoms), whereas boys’ symptoms were positively related to GMV. Our findings suggest that brain morphology in the OFC, a region with functional roles in processes relevant to depressive symptoms (i.e., reward-based learning and reward processing), is associated with early depressive symptoms prior to the development of clinically significant depression.

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