Dataset Information

Neural Correlates of Reward Processing in Depressed and Healthy Preschool-Age Children.

ABSTRACT: Adults and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) show a blunted neural response to rewards. Depression has been validated in children as young as age 3; however, it remains unclear whether blunted response to reward is also a core feature of preschool-onset depression. If so, this would provide further validation for the continuity of the neural correlates of depression across the life span and would identify a potential target for treatment in young children.Fifty-three 4- to 7-year-old children with depression and 25 psychiatrically healthy 4- to 7-year-old children completed a simple guessing task in which points could be won or lost on each trial while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Psychiatric diagnosis was established using a preschool version of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Depression.Young children with depression showed a reduced differentiation between response to gains and losses, and this finding was driven by a blunted response to reward (i.e., the reward positivity [RewP]). These findings held even when controlling for co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. The RewP did not vary as a function of depression severity within the group with depression.Similar to adults and adolescents with depression, preschoolers with depression display reductions in responsivity to rewards as indexed by the RewP. These findings provide further evidence for continuity in the neural mechanisms associated with depression across the lifespan, and point to altered reward sensitivity as an early-emerging potential target for intervention in preschool-onset depression. Clinical trial registration information-A Randomized Controlled Trial of PCIT-ED for Preschool Depression; http://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT02076425.

SUBMITTER: Belden AC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5131532 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neural Correlates of Reward Processing in Depressed and Healthy Preschool-Age Children.

Belden Andy C AC Irvin Kelsey K Hajcak Greg G Kappenman Emily S ES Kelly Danielle D Karlow Samantha S Luby Joan L JL Barch Deanna M DM

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 20161004 12

<h4>Objective</h4>Adults and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) show a blunted neural response to rewards. Depression has been validated in children as young as age 3; however, it remains unclear whether blunted response to reward is also a core feature of preschool-onset depression. If so, this would provide further validation for the continuity of the neural correlates of depression across the life span and would identify a potential target for treatment in young children.<h4>Met ...[more]

PMID: 27871643

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Project description:Deficits in motivational behavior and psychotic symptoms often observed in schizophrenia (SZ) may be driven by dysfunctional reward processing (RP). RP can be divided in two different stages; reward anticipation and reward consumption. Aberrant processing during reward anticipation seems to be related to SZ. Studies in patients with SZ have found less activation in the ventral striatum (VS) during anticipation of reward, but these findings do not provide information on effect of the genetic load on reward processing. Therefore, this study investigated RP in healthy first-degree relatives of SZ patients. The sample consisted of 94 healthy siblings of SZ patients and 57 healthy controls. Participants completed a classic RP task, the Monetary Incentive Delay task, during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). As expected, there were no behavioral differences between groups. In contrast to our expectations, we found no differences in any of the anticipatory reward related brain areas (region of interest analyses). Whole-brain analyses did reveal group differences during both reward anticipation and reward consumption; during reward anticipation siblings showed less deactivation in the insula, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and medial frontal gyrus (MFG) than controls. During reward consumption siblings showed less deactivation in the PCC and the right MFG compared to controls and activation in contrast to deactivation in controls in the precuneus and the left MFG. Exclusively in siblings, MFG activity correlated positively with subclinical negative symptoms. These regions are typically associated with the default mode network (DMN), which normally shows decreases in activation during task-related cognitive processes. Thus, in contrast to prior literature in patients with SZ, the results do not point to altered brain activity in classical RP brain areas, such as the VS. However, the weaker deactivation found outside the reward-related network in siblings could indicate reduced task-related suppression (i.e., hyperactivation) of the DMN. The presence of DMN hyperactivation during reward anticipation and reward consumption might indicate that siblings of patients with SZ have a higher baseline level of DMN activation and possible abnormal network functioning.

Project description:ImportanceDysfunctional reward processing is a leading candidate mechanism for the development of certain depressive symptoms, such as anhedonia. However, to our knowledge, there has not yet been a systematic assessment of whether and to what extent depression is associated with impairments on behavioral reward-processing tasks.ObjectiveTo determine whether depression is associated with impairments in reward-processing behavior.Data sourcesThe MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, and PsycInfo databases were searched for studies that investigated reward processing using performance on behavioral tasks by individuals with depression and nondepressed control groups, published between January 1, 1946, and August 16, 2019.Study selectionStudies that contained data regarding performance by depressed and healthy control groups on reward-processing tasks were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis.Data extraction and synthesisSummary statistics comparing performance between depressed and healthy groups on reward-processing tasks were converted to standardized mean difference (SMD) scores, from which summary effect sizes for overall impairment in reward processing and 4 subcomponent categories were calculated. Study quality, heterogeneity, replicability-index, and publication bias were also assessed.Main outcome and measuresPerformance on reward-processing tasks.ResultsThe final data set comprised 48 case-control studies (1387 healthy control individuals and 1767 individuals with major depressive disorder). The mean age was 37.85 years and 58% of the participants were women. These studies used tasks assessing option valuation (n = 9), reward bias (n = 6), reward response vigor (n = 12), reinforcement learning (n = 20), and grip force (n = 1). Across all tasks, depression was associated with small to medium impairments in reward-processing behavior (SMD = 0.345; 95% CI, 0.209-0.480). When examining reward-processing subcomponent categories, impairment was associated with tasks assessing option valuation (SMD = 0.309; 95% CI, 0.147-0.471), reward bias (SMD = 0.644; 95% CI, 0.270-1.017), and reinforcement learning (SMD = 0.352; 95% CI, 0.115-0.588) but not reward response vigor (SMD = 0.083; 95% CI, -0.144 to 0.309). The medication status of the major depressive disorder sample did not explain any of the variance in the overall effect size. There was significant between-study heterogeneity overall and in all subcomponent categories other than option valuation. Significant publication bias was identified overall and in the reinforcement learning category.Conclusions and relevanceRelative to healthy control individuals, individuals with depression exhibit reward-processing impairments, particularly for tests of reward bias, option valuation, and reinforcement learning. Understanding the neural mechanisms driving these associations may assist in designing novel interventions.

Dataset Information

Neural Correlates of Reward Processing in Depressed and Healthy Preschool-Age Children.

Publications

Neural Correlates of Reward Processing in Depressed and Healthy Preschool-Age Children.

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