Accessibility navigation


Blunted neural response to anticipation, effort and consummation of reward and aversion in adolescents with depression symptomatology

Rzepa, E., Fisk, J. and McCabe, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8704-3473 (2017) Blunted neural response to anticipation, effort and consummation of reward and aversion in adolescents with depression symptomatology. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 31 (3). pp. 303-311. ISSN 1461-7285

[img]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
· Please see our End User Agreement before downloading.

925kB

It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work. See Guidance on citing.

To link to this item DOI: 10.1177/0269881116681416

Abstract/Summary

Neural reward function has been proposed as a possible biomarker for depression. However how the neural response to reward and aversion might differ in young adolescents with current symptoms of depression is as yet unclear. 33 adolescents were recruited. 17 scoring low on the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) (Low Risk: LR) and 16 scoring high on the MFQ (High Risk: HR). Our fMRI task measured; anticipation (pleasant/unpleasant cue), effort (achieve a pleasant taste or avoid an unpleasant taste) and consummation (pleasant/unpleasant tastes) in Regions of Interest; ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), pregenual cingulate cortex (pgACC), the insula and ventral striatum. We also examined whole brain group differences. In the ROI analysis we found reduced activity in the HR group in the pgACC during anticipation and reduced pgACC and vmPFC during effort and consummation. In the whole brain analysis we also found reduced activity in the HR group in the prefrontal cortex and the precuneus during anticipation. We found reduced activity in the hippocampus during the effort phase and in the anterior cingulate/frontal pole during consummation in the HR group. Increased anhedonia measures correlated with decreased pgACC activity during consummation in the HR group only. Our results are the first to show that adolescents with depression symptoms have blunted neural responses during the anticipation, effort and consummation of rewarding and aversive stimuli. This study suggests that interventions in young people at risk of depression, that can reverse blunted responses, might be beneficial as preventative strategies.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN)
Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology
ID Code:67918
Publisher:Sage Publications

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

University Staff: Request a correction | Centaur Editors: Update this record

Page navigation