Neural dynamics of monetary and social reward processing in social anhedonia

Abstract Being characterized by reduced pleasure from social interaction, social anhedonia constitutes a transdiagnostic marker for various psychiatric disorders. However, the neural portrait of social anhedonia remains elusive because of heterogeneities of reward type and reward dynamics in previous studies. The present event-related potential study investigated neural dynamics in response to monetary and social rewards in social anhedonia. Event-related potential responses were examined when a high social anhedonia (HSA, N = 23) group and a low social anhedonia (LSA, N = 26) group were anticipating and consuming social and monetary rewards. LSA but not HSA participants showed an increased stimulus-preceding negativity (anticipatory phase) and and increased reward positivity (consummatory phase) for monetary as compared with social rewards. This group difference could spring from an increased relevance of social rewards or a general decline in affective responding due to a potential association between social anhedonia and depression. Our findings provide preliminary evidence for neural aberrations of the reward system in social anhedonia, which is contingent upon reward type and reward dynamics.

Download Full-text

Blunted Neural Reward Responsiveness in Children With Recent Suicidal Ideation

Clinical Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/2167702619856341 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (5) ◽

pp. 958-968 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Aliona Tsypes ◽

Max Owens ◽

Brandon E. Gibb

Keyword(s):

Suicidal Ideation ◽

Initial Response ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Reward Responsiveness ◽

Reward Positivity ◽

History Of ◽

The Difference ◽

Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviors

Individuals with suicidal thoughts and behaviors experience abnormalities in reward-related processes, yet little is known about specific components or stages of reward processing that are impaired, especially in children. The primary aim of this study was to conduct an investigation of the Initial Response to Reward subconstruct of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Research Domain Criteria in relation to recent suicidal ideation (SI) in children. Participants were 23 children between the ages of 7 and 11 with a history of recent SI and 46 demographically and clinically matched children with no recent SI. Children completed a simple guessing task during which electroencephalographic signals were continuously recorded to isolate the reward positivity (RewP) event-related potential; specifically, we examined change in RewP (∆RewP), quantified as the difference between neural responses to monetary gains and neural responses to monetary losses. Children with recent SI exhibited significantly smaller (i.e., blunted) ∆RewP, providing initial evidence for blunted initial responses to reward in these children.

Download Full-text

Amphetamine alters the Reward Positivity in humans and mice

10.1101/2021.08.25.457689 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

James F Cavanagh ◽

Sarah Olguin ◽

Jo Talledo ◽

Juliana Kotz ◽

Benjamin Roberts ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Learning Task ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Reward Sensitivity ◽

Probabilistic Learning ◽

Reward Positivity ◽

Band Power ◽

Delta Band ◽

The Impact

The development of pro-cognitive therapeutics for psychiatric disorders has been beset with difficulties. This is in part due to the absence of pharmacologically-sensitive cognitive biomarkers common to humans and rodents. Here, we describe a cross-species translational measure of reward processing that is sensitive to the dopamine agonist, d-amphetamine. Motivated by human electroencephalographic (EEG) findings, we recently reported that frontal midline delta-band power is also an electrophysiological biomarker of reward surprise in mice. Here, we determined the impact on this reward-related EEG response from humans (n=23) and mice (n=28) performing a probabilistic learning task under parametric doses of d-amphetamine (human: placebo, 10 mg, 20 mg; mice: placebo, 0.1 mg/kg, 0.3 mg.kg, 1.0 mg/kg). In humans, d-amphetamine boosted the Reward Positivity event-related potential (ERP) component as well as the spectral delta-band representation of this signal. In mice, only the Reward Positivity ERP component was significantly boosted by d-amphetamine. In sum, the present results confirm the role of dopamine in the generation of the Reward Positivity, and support the first pharmacologically valid biomarker of reward sensitivity across species.

Download Full-text

Neural Response to Rewards in Youths with Insomnia

SLEEP ◽

10.1093/sleep/zsab238 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jiefan Ling ◽

Xuanyi Lin ◽

Xiao Li ◽

Ngan Yin Chan ◽

Jihui Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Time Window ◽

Gain Control ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Developmental Trajectory ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Reward Positivity ◽

Insomnia Disorder ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Behavioural Adjustment

Abstract Study Objectives Insomnia and depression are common comorbid conditions in youths. Emerging evidence suggests that disrupted reward processing may be implicated in the association between insomnia and the increased risk for depression. Reduced reward positivity (RewP) as measured by event-related potential (ERP) has been linked to depression, but has not been tested in youths with insomnia. Methods Twenty-eight participants with insomnia disorder and without any comorbid psychiatric disorders and 29 healthy sleepers aged between 15-24 completed a monetary reward task, the Cued Door task, whilst electroencephalographic activity was recorded. RewP (reward minus non-reward difference waves) was calculated as the mean amplitudes within 200ms to 300ms time window at FCz. Two analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were conducted with age as a covariate on RewP amplitude and latency, respectively. Results Participants with insomnia had a significantly lower RewP amplitude regardless of cue types (Gain, Control, and Loss) than healthy sleepers, F (1, 51) = 4.95, p = .031, indicating blunted reward processing. On the behavioural level, healthy sleepers were more prudential (slower reaction time) in decision making towards Loss/Gain cues than their insomnia counterparts. Trial-by-trial behavioural adjustment analyses showed that, compared with healthy sleepers, participants with insomnia were less likely to dynamically change their choices in response to Loss cues. Conclusions Dysfunctional reward processing, coupled with inflexibility of behavioural adjustment in decision-making, is associated with insomnia disorder among youth, independent of mood disorders. Future studies with long-term follow-up are needed to further delineate the developmental trajectory of insomnia-related reward dysfunctions in youth.

Download Full-text

Supplemental Material for Reward Processing in Certain Versus Uncertain Contexts in Schizophrenia: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study

Journal of Abnormal Psychology ◽

10.1037/abn0000469.supp ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Reward Processing ◽

Event Related Potential

Download Full-text

Dissociating the effect of reward uncertainty and timing uncertainty on neural indices of reward prediction errors: A reward positivity (RewP) event-related potential (ERP) study

Biological Psychology ◽

10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108121 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 108121

Author(s):

Alexandra M. Muir ◽

Addison C. Eberhard ◽

Megan S. Walker ◽

Angus Bennion ◽

Mikle South ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Event Related Potential ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Reward Positivity ◽

Reward Prediction ◽

Timing Uncertainty

Download Full-text

P.334 An event-related potential study of reward processing in subjects with schizophrenia and healthy controls

European Neuropsychopharmacology ◽

10.1016/j.euroneuro.2019.12.116 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 ◽

pp. S72-S73

Author(s):

Ö. Akgül ◽

E. Fide ◽

F. Özel ◽

K. Alptekin ◽

G. Yener ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Reward Processing ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Potential Study

Download Full-text

S76. PROACTIVE AND REACTIVE RESPONSE INHIBITION IN INDIVIDUAL WITH SCHIZOTYPY: AN ERP STUDY

Schizophrenia Bulletin ◽

10.1093/schbul/sbaa031.142 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S63-S63

Author(s):

Ya Wang ◽

Lu-xia Jia ◽

Xiao-jing Qin ◽

Jun-yan Ye ◽

Raymond Chan

Keyword(s):

Response Inhibition ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Proactive Inhibition ◽

Stop Signal ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Stop Signal Task ◽

Reactive Inhibition ◽

Reactive Control ◽

Present Event

Abstract Background Schizotypy, a subclinical group at risk for schizophrenia, have been found to show impairments in response inhibition. Recent studies differentiated proactive inhibition (a preparatory process before the stimuli appears) and reactive inhibition (the inhibition of a pre-potent or already initiated response). However, it remains unclear whether both proactive and reactive inhibition are impaired in schizotypy and what are the neural mechanisms. The present event-related potential study used an adapted stop-signal task to examine the two inhibition processes and the underlying neural mechanisms in schizotypy compared to healthy controls (HC). Methods A total of 21 individuals with schizotypy and 25 matched HC participated in this study. To explore different degrees of proactive inhibition, we set three conditions: a “certain” go condition which no stop signal occurred, a “17% no go” condition in which stop signal would appear in 17% of trials, and a “33% no go” condition in which stop signal would appear in 33% of trials. All participants completed all the conditions, and EEG was recorded when participants completed the task. Results Behavioral results showed that in both schizotypy and HC, the reaction times (RT) of go trials were significantly prolonged as the no go percentage increased, and HC showed significantly longer go RT compared with schizotypy in both “17% no go” and “33% no go” conditions, suggesting greater proactive inhibition in HC. Stop signal reaction times (SSRTs) in “33% no go” condition was shorter than “17% no go” condition in both groups. Schizotypy showed significantly longer SSRTs in both “17% no go” and “33% no go” conditions than HC, indicating schizotypy relied more on reactive inhibition. ERP results showed that schizotypy showed larger overall N1 for go trials than HC irrespective of condition, which may indicate a compensation process in schizotypy. Schizotypy showed smaller N2 on both successful and unsuccessful stop trials in “17% no go” conditions than HC, while no group difference was found in “33% no go” conditions for stop trials, which may indicate impaired error processing. Discussion These results suggested that schizotypy tended to be impaired in both proactive control and reactive control processes.

Download Full-text

Aberrant reward dynamics in trait anticipatory anhedonia

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience ◽

10.1093/scan/nsz062 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (8) ◽

pp. 899-909

Author(s):

Shiyu Zhou ◽

Lu Nie ◽

Zhao Wang ◽

Mengyao Wang ◽

Ya Zheng

Keyword(s):

Clinical Sample ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Behavioral Performance ◽

Current Event ◽

Disease States ◽

Monetary Incentive Delay ◽

Anticipatory Anhedonia ◽

Cardinal Feature

Abstract As a cardinal feature of several psychiatric disorders, anhedonia includes a consummatory component (deficits in hedonic response to rewards) and an anticipatory component (a reduced motivation to pursue them). Although being conceptualized as impairments of reward system, the neural characterization of reward processing in anhedonia is hampered by the enormous heterogeneity in the reward phase (‘wanting’ vs ‘liking’) and comorbidity (inherent to disease states). The current event-related potential (ERP) study examined the reward dynamics of anticipatory anhedonia in a non-clinical sample. Anticipatory and consummatory ERP components were assessed with a monetary incentive delay task in a high anticipatory anhedonia (HAA) group and a low anticipatory anhedonia (LAA) group. HAA vs LAA group showed a diminished reward-related speeding during behavioral performance and reported overall reduced positive affect during anticipation and receipt of outcomes. Importantly, neural dynamics underlying reward processing were negatively associated with anticipatory anhedonia across the anticipatory phase indexed by the contingent negative variation and the consummatory phase indexed by the feedback P3. Our results suggest that anticipatory anhedonia in non-clinical individuals is linked to a poor modulation during both anticipatory and consummatory phases of reward processing.

Download Full-text