UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Department of Psychiatry
Fifth Annual Research Forum – Extravaganza 2014
POSTER TITLE
Reward-Processing Deficits in Active but not Remitted Depression
DISEASE/KEY
WORDS:
Depression, behavioral activation system, reward-processing
AUTHORS:
Sophie R DelDonno1, Annie L Weldon2, Alessandra M Passarotti1, Brian J Mickey3,
Patrick J Pruitt3, Natania A Crane1, Laura Gabriel12, Wendy Yau2, Kortni K Meyers2,
David T Hsu3, Stephen F Taylor2, Mary M Heitzeg2, Stewart Shankman5, Jon-Kar
Zubieta234, Scott A Langenecker12
1
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago 2Department of
Psychiatry, University of Michigan 3Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Institute,
University of Michigan 4Department of Radiology, University of Michigan
5
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago
RESEARCH MENTOR:
Scott A Langenecker12
MENTEE
CATEGORY:
student
BACKGROUND:
Anhedonia is one of the core symptoms of major depressive disorder and leads to
impaired reward processing. Individuals with depression have trouble learning reward
contingencies and adjusting their behavior to earn rewards, and are overly sensitive to
punishment. Low positive affect and high negative affect may underlie these rewardprocessing deficits. The present study investigated reward-learning impairments in
actively depressed (aMDD; in Study 1) and remitted depressed (rMDD; in Study 2)
participants, as well as the influences of behavioral activation (positive affect) and
behavioral inhibition (negative affect). We asked whether reward learning and/or
affective personality traits may be risk factors for depression or relapse.
METHODS:
Study 1 participants (20 aMDD, 14 HC) and Study 2 participants (33 rMDD, 17 HC)
completed a modified Monetary Incentive Delay Task (mMIDT) and the Behavioral
Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS) scale. The mMIDT was
titrated to participants’ individual performance in a practice run to ideally elicit 50% 80% accuracy. Titration adapts the task to the participant’s advantage so they can win
a majority of the trials while also standardizing the task by removing the effect of each
participant’s individual psychomotor ability.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Department of Psychiatry
RESULTS:
In Study 1, a repeated measures ANOVA revealed that aMDD participants won
significantly less money than HCs and that aMDD participants lose money over time.
A multiple regression model showed that aMDD performance was predicted by BAS
Reward-Responsiveness subscale scores. We ran identical analyses in Study 2 and
found that rMDD and HC did not differ on amount of money won in the mMIDT, and
both groups won more money as the task went on. In Study 2 the BIS/BAS scales did
not predict performance.
CONCLUSIONS:
Despite titration aimed at removing psychomotor effects of illness, actively depressed
participants exhibited reduced reward pursuit. Trait reward-responsiveness predicted
this outcome. Individuals with remitted depression performed identically to healthy
participants, suggesting that impaired reward-seeking may be a state effect of illness.
BIS and BAS scores were restricted in Study 2, perhaps preventing us from seeing a
relationship. Further research should address whether these results are due to
participant age, age of onset, number of episodes, or scanner interference.