Neural reactivity to monetary rewards and losses in childhood: longitudinal and concurrent associations with observed and self-reported positive emotionality

Maternal psychopathology is differentially associated with adolescent offspring neural response to reward given offspring ADHD risk

Reinforcement sensitivity is a hypothesized attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) intermediate phenotype but its role in transgenerational transmission of ADHD-linked psychopathology risk is largely unknown. We examined, in a carefully phenotyped, N = 123 sample of adolescents (Mage = 15.27 years, SD = 0.984; 61.78% boys), whether (1) parental psychopathology is differentially associated with fMRI-indexed neural response to reward receipt and (2) both maternal and paternal psychopathology are associated with neural response to reward; across adolescents at-risk for and not at-risk for ADHD. Indices of parental psychopathology were differentially associated with adolescent offspring neural response to reward such that across measures, parental psychopathology was negatively or not associated with offspring superior frontal gyrus (SFG) response to reward receipt in adolescents at-risk for ADHD, but parental psychopathology was positively associated with offspring SFG response in adolescents not at-risk. Further, across measures, greater maternal psychopathology was associated with blunted adolescent SFG response to reward in adolescents at-risk for ADHD whereas greater maternal externalizing problems were linked to enhanced adolescent SFG response in adolescents not at-risk. Across measures, paternal psychopathology was not associated with adolescent response to reward, in either group. ADHD risk confers differential reward-related susceptibility to the effects of parental psychopathology. Results also show this association is nonspecific in terms of parental psychopathology type but is specific to maternal psychopathology.

Endogenous Control and Reward-based Mechanisms Shape Infants' Attention Biases to Caregiver Faces

Infants rely on developing attention skills to identify relevant stimuli in their environments. Although caregivers are socially rewarding and a critical source of information, they are also one of many stimuli that compete for infants' attention. Young infants preferentially hold attention on caregiver faces, but it is unknown whether they also preferentially orient to caregivers and the extent to which these attention biases reflect reward-based attention mechanisms. To address these questions, we measured 4- to 10-month-old infants' (N = 64) frequency of orienting and duration of looking to caregiver and stranger faces within multi-item arrays. We also assessed whether infants' attention to these faces related to individual differences in Surgency, an indirect index of reward sensitivity. Although infants did not show biased attention to caregiver versus stranger faces at the group level, infants were increasingly biased to orient to stranger faces with age and infants with higher Surgency scores showed more robust attention orienting and attention holding biases to caregiver faces. These effects varied based on the selective attention demands of the task, suggesting that infants' attention biases to caregiver faces may reflect both developing attention control skills and reward-based attention mechanisms.

Reduced reward responsiveness and depression vulnerability: Consideration of social contexts and implications for intervention

Depression is a prevalent, heterogeneous, and debilitating disorder that often emerges in adolescence, and there is a need to better understand vulnerability processes to inform more targeted intervention efforts. Psychophysiological methods, like event-related potentials (ERPs), can offer unique insights into the cognitive and emotional processes underlying depression vulnerability. I review my and others' research examining ERP measures of reward responsiveness in youth depression and present a conceptual model of the development of low reward responsiveness, its role in depression vulnerability, and potential windows for targeted intervention. There is evidence that a blunted reward positivity (RewP) is observable in children at risk for depression, appears to be shaped in part by early social experiences, and predicts later depressive symptoms in combination with other risk factors like stress exposure. Further, a component consistent with RewP is reliably elicited in response to social acceptance feedback in computerized peer interaction tasks and demonstrates unique associations with social contextual factors and depressive symptoms, supporting the utility of developing psychophysiological tasks that may better capture youths' real-world experiences and social risk processes. In addition, I address the translational implications of clinical psychophysiological research and describe a series of studies showing that a reduced RewP predicts greater reductions in depressive symptoms with treatment but is not modifiable by current treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy. Finally, I describe our preliminary efforts to develop a positive emotion-focused intervention for the offspring of depressed mothers, informed by the RewP literature, and describe future directions for translating psychophysiological research to intervention and prevention.

Neural response to monetary and social rewards and familial risk for psychopathology in adolescent females

BACKGROUND

Adolescence is a key developmental period for the emergence of psychopathology. Reward-related brain activity increases across adolescence and has been identified as a potential neurobiological mechanism of risk for different forms of psychopathology. The reward positivity (RewP) is an event-related potential component that indexes reward system activation and has been associated with both concurrent and family history of psychopathology. However, it is unclear whether the RewP is also associated with higher-order psychopathology subfactors and whether this relationship is present across different types of reward.

METHODS

In a sample of 193 adolescent females and a biological parent, the present study examined the association between adolescent and parental psychopathology subfactors and adolescent RewP to monetary and social reward.

RESULTS

Results indicated that the adolescent and parental distress subfactors were negatively associated with the adolescent domain-general RewP. The adolescent and parental positive mood subfactors were negatively associated with the adolescent domain-general and domain-specific monetary RewP, respectively. Conversely, the adolescent and parental fear/obsessions subfactors were positively associated with the adolescent domain-general RewP. The associations between parental and adolescent psychopathology subfactors and the adolescent RewP were independent of each other.

CONCLUSIONS

The RewP in adolescent females is associated with both concurrent and parental psychopathology symptoms, suggesting that it indexes both severity and risk for higher-order subfactors.

The impact of electrode selection for ocular correction on the reward positivity and late positive potential components in adolescents

Electroencephalography (EEG) data processing to derive event-related potentials (ERPs) follows a standard set of procedures to maximize signal-to-noise ratio. This often includes ocular correction, which corrects for artifacts introduced by eye movements, typically measured by electrooculogram (EOG) using facial electrodes near the eyes. Yet, attaching electrodes to the face may be uncomfortable for some populations, best to avoid in some situations, and contribute to data loss. Eye movements can also be measured using electrodes in a standard 10-20 EEG cap. An examination of the impact of electrode selection on ERPs is needed to inform best practices. The present study examined data quality when using different electrodes to measure eye movements for ocular correction (i.e., facial electrodes, cap electrodes, and no ocular correction) for two well-established and widely studied ERP components (i.e., reward positivity, RewP; and late positive potential, LPP) elicited in adolescents (N = 34). Results revealed comparable split-half reliability and standardized measurement error (SME) between facial and cap electrode approaches, with lower SME for the RewP with facial or cap electrodes compared to no ocular correction. Few significant differences in mean amplitude of ERPs were observed, but the LPP to positive images differed when using facial compared to cap electrodes. Findings provide preliminary evidence of the ability to collect high-quality ERP data without facial electrodes. However, when using cap electrodes for EOG measurement and ocular correction, it is recommended to use consistent procedures across the sample or statistically examine the impact of ocular correction procedures on results.

Brain imaging studies of emotional well-being: a scoping review

This scoping review provides an overview of previous empirical studies that used brain imaging techniques to investigate the neural correlates of emotional well-being (EWB). We compiled evidence on this topic into one accessible and usable document as a foundation for future research into the relationship between EWB and the brain. PRISMA 2020 guidelines were followed. We located relevant articles by searching five electronic databases with 95 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. We explored EWB measures, brain imaging modalities, research designs, populations studied, and approaches that are currently in use to characterize and understand EWB across the literature. Of the key concepts related to EWB, the vast majority of studies investigated positive affect and life satisfaction, followed by sense of meaning, goal pursuit, and quality of life. The majority of studies used functional MRI, followed by EEG and event-related potential-based EEG to study the neural basis of EWB (predominantly experienced affect, affective perception, reward, and emotion regulation). It is notable that positive affect and life satisfaction have been studied significantly more often than the other three aspects of EWB (i.e., sense of meaning, goal pursuit, and quality of life). Our findings suggest that future studies should investigate EWB in more diverse samples, especially in children, individuals with clinical disorders, and individuals from various geographic locations. Future directions and theoretical implications are discussed, including the need for more longitudinal studies with ecologically valid measures that incorporate multi-level approaches allowing researchers to better investigate and evaluate the relationships among behavioral, environmental, and neural factors.

Systematic review registration

https://osf.io/t9cf6/.

Neural reward responsiveness and daily positive affect functioning in adolescent girls

Deficits in reward processing have been implicated in the development of many forms of psychopathology, especially major depressive disorder (MDD). One facet of reward processing, known as reward responsivity, has been associated with the development and maintenance of depression across development. The reward positivity (RewP) is an event-related potential derived from electroencephalogram (EEG), which is thought to reflect reward responsivity. An attenuated RewP has been observed in both currently depressed individuals and youth at risk for depression, suggesting it may represent a biomarker of depression. Despite this, little is known about how the RewP translates to behavior and affect in the real world. In the current study, we examined how the RewP relates to real world emotional functioning, measured using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Thirty-eight female adolescents (ages 11-16, Mage = 13.9 years) participated in the study; approximately half of the sample were considered high risk due to maternal lifetime history of MDD. Adolescents completed a monetary reward task while EEG was recorded, followed by a 10-day period of EMA assessing daily affect and emotion regulation strategy use following positive events. Results revealed that the RewP was positively associated with subjective reports of positive, but not negative, daily affect. Results also revealed that the RewP was positively associated with focusing on positive feelings following a positive event (e.g., savoring). Findings from this preliminary study highlight how neural responses to reward in the lab relate to daily life emotional functioning, supporting the RewP as an ecologically valid marker of positive affect functioning among youth.

Neural response to rewards moderates the within-person association between daily positive events and positive affect during a period of stress exposure

Stress and neural responses to reward can interact to predict psychopathology, but the mechanisms of this interaction are unclear. One possibility is that the strength of neural responses to reward can affect the ability to maintain positive affect during stress. In this study, 105 participants completed a monetary reward task to elicit the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential sensitive to rewards. Subsequently, during a stressful period, participants reported on their affect nine times a day and on daily positive and negative events for 10 days. Even during heightened stress, experiencing more positive events was associated with increased positive affect. The RewP significantly moderated this association: Individuals with a larger RewP reported greater increases in positive affect when they experienced more positive events, relative to individuals with a smaller RewP. A blunted RewP might contribute to stress susceptibility by affecting how much individuals engage in positive emotion regulation during stress.

Characterizing positive and negative valence systems function in adolescent depression: An RDoC-informed approach integrating multiple neural measures

Depression is a prevalent, debilitating, and costly disorder that often manifests in adolescence. There is an urgent need to understand core pathophysiological processes for depression to inform more targeted intervention efforts. The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Positive Valence Systems (PVS) and Negative Valence Systems (NVS) have both been implicated in depression symptomatology and vulnerability; however, the nature of NVS alterations is unclear across studies, and associations between single neural measures and symptoms are often small in magnitude and inconsistent. The present study advances characterization of depression in adolescence via an innovative data-driven approach to identifying subgroups of PVS and NVS function by integrating multiple neural measures (assessed by electroencephalogram [EEG]) relevant to depression in adolescents oversampled for clinical depression and depression risk based on maternal history (N = 129; 14-17 years old). Results of the k-means cluster analysis supported a two-cluster solution wherein one cluster was characterized by relatively attenuated reward and emotion responsiveness across valences and the other by relatively intact responsiveness. Youth in the attenuated responsiveness cluster reported significantly greater depressive symptoms and were more likely to have major depressive disorder diagnoses than youth in the intact responsiveness cluster. In contrast, associations of individual neural measures with depressive symptoms were non-significant. The present study highlights the importance of innovative neuroscience approaches to characterize emotional processing in depression across domains, which is imperative to advancing the clinical utility of RDoC-informed research.

The domain-variant indirect association between electrophysiological response to reward and ADHD presentations is moderated by dopaminergic polymorphisms

BACKGROUND

Understanding the etiopathogenesis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may necessitate decomposition of the heterogeneous clinical phenotype into more homogeneous intermediate phenotypes. Reinforcement sensitivity is a promising candidate, but the exact nature of the ADHD-reward relation - including how, for whom, and to which ADHD dimensions atypicalities in reward processing are relevant - is equivocal.

METHODS

Aims were to examine, in a carefully phenotyped sample of adolescents (N = 305; Mage = 15.30 years, SD = 1.07; 39.7% girls), whether functional dopaminergic polymorphisms implicated in both reward processing and ADHD (1) are differentially associated with event-related potentials (ERPs) of reward anticipation at distinct levels of ADHD risk (nno risk = 174, nat-risk = 131, ndiagnosed = 83); and (2) moderate the indirect effect of dispositional affectivity on the association between ERPs and ADHD domains.

RESULTS

In adolescents at-risk for or with ADHD, carrying a hypodopaminergic allele was associated with enhanced ERPs of attention allocation to cue and attenuated ERPs of anticipatory attention to feedback. No associations were observed in adolescents not at-risk for or without ADHD. Controlling for age and sex, both the negative indirect effect of positive affectivity (PA) on the association between ERPs and inattention and the positive indirect effect of PA on the association between ERPs and hyperactivity/impulsivity were supported only for those with high activity dopamine transporter (DAT) alleles.

CONCLUSIONS

Reward and affective processing are promising intermediate phenotypes relevant to disentangling ADHD developmental pathways. Consistent with developmental multifinality, through the successive effects of reward anticipation and positive affectivity, functional dopaminergic variants may confer protection against inattention or risk for hyperactivity/impulsivity.

Adolescent ADHD and electrophysiological reward responsiveness: A machine learning approach to evaluate classification accuracy and prognosis

We evaluated event-related potential (ERP) indices of reinforcement sensitivity as ADHD biomarkers by examining, in N=306 adolescents (M_age=15.78, SD=1.08), the extent to which ERP amplitude and latency variables measuring reward anticipation and response (1) differentiate, in age- and sex-matched subsamples, (i) youth with vs. without ADHD, (ii) youth at-risk for vs. not at-risk for ADHD, and, in the with ADHD subsample, (iii) youth with the inattentive vs. the hyperactive/impulsive (H/I) and combined presentations. We further examined the extent to which ERP variables (2) predict, in the ADHD subsample, substance use (i) concurrently and (ii) prospectively at 18-month follow-up. Linear support vector machine analyses indicated ERPs weakly differentiate youth with/without (65%) - and at-risk for/not at-risk for (63%) - ADHD but better differentiate ADHD presentations (78%). Regression analyses showed in adolescents with ADHD, ERPs explain a considerable proportion of variance (50%) in concurrent alcohol use and, controlling for concurrent marijuana and tobacco use, explain a considerable proportion of variance (87 and 87%) in, and predict later marijuana and tobacco use. Findings are consistent with the dual-pathway model of ADHD. Results also highlight limitations of a dichotomous, syndromic classification and indicate differences in neural reinforcement sensitivity are a promising ADHD prognostic biomarker.

Electrophysiological normative responses to emotional, neutral, and cigarette-related images

To create reproducible emotional probes, affective scientists rely on sets of standardized pictures that are normed using subjective ratings of valence and emotional arousal. However, when emotional responses are investigated using neurophysiological measures, it might be more appropriate to select pictures integrating information from normative subjective reports and normative neurophysiological responses. Here, we provide electrophysiological normative responses for 323 emotional pictures (215 from the IAPS) covering a wide range of categories (erotica, romantic, appetizing foods, landscapes, people engaged in mundane activities, household objects, disgusting objects, accidents, sad people, violence, mutilations, and cigarette-related contents). Event-related potentials (ERPs) and subjective ratings of pleasure and emotional arousal were collected from 763 individuals (52% females, 41% white) aged between 18 and 65 (mean = 43). For each image, the mean amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP, an electrophysiological index of motivational relevance) and the mean subjective ratings of valence and arousal were calculated. We validated our procedure by showing that the subjective ratings of valence and arousal from this sample were highly correlated to the IAPS' published norms (Pearson r = .97 for pleasure and r = .82 for emotional arousal). LPP responses and subjective ratings of emotional arousal also were correlated (Pearson r = .61), but some categories reported being significantly more arousing than neutral (i.e., food, landscapes, and unpleasant objects) did not evoke LPPs significantly different from those evoked by neutral pictures. Researchers interested in probing the brain's affective systems can use these electrophysiological normative responses to create emotional probes that evoke reliable neuroaffective responses.

Electrocortical measures of win and loss processing are associated with mesocorticolimbic functional connectivity: A combined ERP and rs-fMRI study

The reward positivity (RewP) event-related potential is a well-validated measure of reward processing implicated in internalizing psychopathologies. The RewP is thought to reflect reward reactivity in the mesocorticolimbic system; however, it is not clear how the RewP is related to the functional connectivity of reward-related brain regions. The current study examined associations between the RewP (Win and Loss residuals) and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), among adults with internalizing psychopathology (IP) and healthy controls (HC). All participants (N = 102) completed a validated monetary reward task during electroencephalogram and rs-fMRI. Regression analyses were conducted with (1) RewP-Win residual amplitude and striatal seeds (caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens) and (2) RewP-Loss residual amplitude and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) seeds. Overall, individuals with greater RewP-Win residual amplitude demonstrated increased rs-fMRI connectivity between striatal regions and the medial prefrontal cortex, as well as the parahippocampal gyrus, but decreased connectivity between striatal regions and regions involved in cognitive control and sensorimotor processing. Greater RewP-Loss residual was related to greater connectivity between the ACC and regions involved in reward/loss processing and motor control, but decreased connectivity between the ACC and regions involved in cognitive control. Relationships between the RewP and rs-fMRI were generally consistent across IP and HC. However, a few patterns were unique to IP. Results indicate the RewP is associated with resting-state functional connectivity of reward- and loss-related brain regions, suggesting connectivity of the mesocorticolimbic system may be an important individual difference factor in dimensions of attainment of reward and loss.

Pathways to depression: Dynamic associations between neural responses to appetitive cues in the environment, stress, and the development of illness

This review focuses on research my colleagues and I have conducted on etiological pathways to depression. Much of this work has focused on the measurement of neural responses to appetitive cues, using two event-related brain potential (ERP) components, the Late Positive Potential (LPP) and the Reward Positivity (RewP). Reductions in each of these components have been associated with current symptoms of depression, and in some cases have been shown to differentiate anxious from depressive phenotypes. In this review, I will describe three broad and related approaches we have taken in our research to address a series of interdependent issuess. The first attempts to understand different sources of variation in the LPP and RewP, and how these sources interact with one another. The second tries to identify whether variation in the processes measured by these ERP components might reflect a latent vulnerability to depression and its symptoms, that is evident prior to illness onset. And the third examines the possibility that the processes reflected in the LPP and RewP might play a mechanistic role in the development of depression.

Emotion Context Insensitivity is generalized in individuals with major depressive disorder but not in those with subclinical depression

BACKGROUND

Depressed individuals experience deficits in emotional reactivity. One well-established theory is the Emotion Context Insensitivity (ECI) theory. To better understand impairments in emotional reactivity, we investigated whether the ECI theory is applicable to anticipatory, consummatory, and remembered affect, in both clinical and subclinical depression.

METHODS

Participants were divided into four groups: Major Depressive Disorder Group (MDD, N = 60), Control Group for MDD (Control_MDD, N = 50), Subclinical Depression Group (SD, N = 56), and Control Group for SD (Control_SD, N = 56). The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory were used to assess the severity of depression and anhedonia symptoms. The Monetary Incentive Delay Task evaluated participants' affective responses towards monetary stimuli.

RESULTS

The MDD group was more insensitive to both monetary reward and loss across most types of affect than was the control group. Compared with the controls, the SD group exhibited lower reactivity in anticipatory positive affect but enhanced reactivity in consummatory positive, anticipatory, and remembered negative affect.

LIMITATIONS

Emotional affect was evaluated by subjective ratings, which may lack objectivity. Additionally, laboratory settings and monetary rewards used in this study may cause the results less generalized to daily life and to other types of rewards.

CONCLUSION

The pattern of emotional reactivity in the MDD group was partly consistent with the ECI theory, whereas the SD group showed greater arousal and instability of emotional reactions. These different patterns could facilitate the understanding of emotional reactivity and develop further treatments across the course of depression.

The Impact of Irritability and Callous Unemotional Traits on Reward Positivity in Youth with ADHD and Conduct Problems

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct problems exhibit significant variability in functioning and treatment response that cannot be fully accounted for by differences in symptom severity. Reward responsivity (RR) is a potential transdiagnostic means to account for this variability. Irritability and callous-unemotional (CU) traits moderate associations between both ADHD and conduct problems with multiple realms of functioning. Both are theorized to be associated with RR, but associations in clinical samples are unknown. In 48 youth ages 5-12 with ADHD referred for treatment of conduct problems, we examined RR using a guessing task where participants select a door icon to win and lose money. Analyses focused on the reward positivity (RewP) event-related potential in response to gain and loss feedback, which reliably peaks approximately 300 ms after feedback. Frequentist and Bayesian approaches assessed main effects of ADHD, Conduct Disorder (CD) and non-irritable Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms with RR, plus interactions between symptoms and affective dimensions (irritability, CU). CD and ODD were hypothesized to be associated with altered RR, with irritability and CU moderating these associations. Across models, a reliable CD x irritability interaction emerged, indicating enhanced RewP when irritability was elevated and CD symptoms were low. CU did not moderate any associations with RR, and little support was found for associations between RR and other symptom domains. As neural response to reward varied with levels of irritability and CD symptoms, RR may hold potential as a clinically-relevant biomarker in youth with ADHD and conduct problems.

The influence of reward anticipation on conflict control in children and adolescents: Evidences from hierarchical drift-diffusion model and event-related potentials

Reward is deemed a performance reinforcer. The current study investigated how social and monetary reward anticipation affected cognitive control in 39 children, 40 adolescents, and 40 adults. We found that cognitive control performance improved with age in a Simon task, and the reaction time (RT) was modulated by the reward magnitude. The conflict monitoring process (target N2 amplitudes) of adolescents and the attentional control processes (target P3 amplitudes) of adolescents and adults could be adjusted by reward magnitude, suggesting that adolescents were more sensitive to rewards compared to children. Reward magnitudes influenced the neural process of attentional control with larger P3 in congruent trails than that in incongruent trials only in low reward condition. The result of hierarchical drift-diffusion model indicated that children had slower drift rates, higher decision threshold, and longer non-decision time than adolescents and adults. Adolescents had faster drift rates in monetary task than in social task under the high reward condition, and they had faster drift rates under high reward condition than no reward condition only in the monetary task. The correlation analysis further showed that adults' non-decision time and decision threshold correlated with conflict monitoring process (N2 responses) and attentional control process on conflicts (P3 responses). Adolescents' drift rates associated with neural process of attentional control. The current study reveals that reward magnitude and reward type can modulate cognitive control process, especially in adolescents.

Reliability of reward ERPs in middle-late adolescents using a custom and a standardized preprocessing pipeline

Despite advantage of neuroimaging measures in translational research frameworks, less is known about the psychometric properties thereof, especially in middle-late adolescents. Earlier, we examined evidence of convergent and incremental validity of reward anticipation and response event-related potentials (ERPs) and here we examined, in the same sample of 43 adolescents (M_age  = 15.67 years; SD = 1.01; range: 14-18; 32.6% boys), data quality (signal-to-noise ratio [SNR]), stability (mean amplitude across trials), and internal consistency (Cronbach's α and split-half reliability) of the same ERPs. Further, because observed time course and peak amplitude of ERP grand averages and thus findings on SNR, stability, and internal consistency may depend on preprocessing method, we employed a custom and a standardized preprocessing pipeline and compared findings across those. Using our custom pipeline, reward anticipation components were stable by the 40th trial, achieved acceptable internal consistency by the 19th, and all (but the stimulus-preceding negativity [SPN]) achieved acceptable SNR by the 41st trial. Initial response to reward components were stable by the 20th trial and achieved acceptable internal consistency by the 11th and acceptable SNR by the 45th trial. Difference scores had worse psychometric properties than parent measures. Time course and peak amplitudes of ERPs and thus results on SNR, stability, and internal consistency were comparable across preprocessing pipelines. In case of reward anticipation ERPs examined here, 41 trials (+4 artifacted and removed) and, in case of reward response ERPs, 45 trials (+5 artifacted) yielded stable and internally consistent estimates with acceptable SNR. Results are robust across preprocessing methods.

Acute stress reduces reward-related neural activity: Evidence from the reward positivity

Stress and blunted reward processing are risk factors for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The experience of acute stress reduces fMRI correlates of reward-related neural activity; however, few studies have examined how acute stress impacts measures of reward derived from event-related potentials (ERPs). The current study examined the impact of an acute stressor on the Reward Positivity (RewP), an ERP that indexes reward sensitivity, in twenty-six college students. Participants completed a monetary reward task while they placed their left hand in cold water set at 13 °C (i.e. acute stress condition) and again while their hand was placed in room temperature water (i.e. control condition). These conditions were separated by one week and performed in a counter-balanced order across participants. The results revealed that the RewP amplitude was blunted in the acute stress condition compared to the control condition. Moreover, there was a trend toward this effect interacting with self-reported depressive symptoms: the RewP was reduced only among individuals who reported low depressive symptoms. The current study suggests that an acute stressor reduces the RewP, and that this effect might be moderated by current depressive symptoms. Future studies might examine the temporal association between reward processing and stress, and how they interact to predict depressive symptoms.LAY SUMMARYThe current study examined the impact of acute stress on the brain's reward system. The results indicated that acute stress reduced activity within the brain's reward system, particularly among individuals with low depressive symptoms.

EARLY PREDICTORS OF ADOLESCENT IRRITABILITY

Limited research has examined precursors/risk factors for adolescent irritability. This study examines continuity of irritability from early childhood to adolescence and identifies antecedents of adolescent irritability. Across self-reports and mother-reports, evidence was found for continuity of irritability. A range of variables assessed at age 3 predicted irritability at age 15. These findings suggest that adolescent irritability is characterized by distinct developmental pathways from age 3 that have potential to result in an irritable phenotype at age 15. Adolescent-reported and mother-reported irritability may be capturing distinct underlying constructs of irritability; both should be considered in assessments of adolescent irritability.

Examination of developmental pathways from preschool temperament to early adolescent ADHD symptoms through initial responsiveness to reward

To identify sources of phenotypic heterogeneity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) accounting for diversity in developmental/ pathogenic pathways, we examined, in a large sample of youth (N = 354), (a) associations between observed temperamental emotionality at age 3, an electrocortical index (i.e., reward positivity [RewP]) of initial responsiveness to reward at age 9, and ADHD symptoms at age 12, and (b) whether the association between emotionality and ADHD symptoms is mediated by initial responsiveness to reward. Bivariate analyses indicated greater positive emotionality (PE) was associated with enhanced RewP, lower age-9ADHD and lower age-12 inattention (IA). Negative emotionality (NE) was not associated with RewP or ADHD. Mediation analyses revealed the association between PE and hyperactivity/impulsivity (H/I) was mediated by RewP; enhanced RewP was associated with greater H/I. Greater PE was associated with enhanced RewP at a trend level. These effects held accounting for age-9 ADHD, age-12 IA and age-12 oppositional defiant and conduct disorder symptoms. As such, preschool emotionality is associated with adolescent ADHD-H/I symptoms through late childhood initial responsiveness to reward. These relations indicate that individual differences in emotionality and reward responsiveness may be informative for personalizing ADHD interventions.

Differentiating stages of reward responsiveness: Neurophysiological measures and associations with facets of the behavioral activation system

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) positive valence systems domain include multiple aspects of reward responsiveness with potential to elucidate the understanding of motivational and hedonic deficits in psychological disorders. There is a need for reliable and valid methods to delineate behavioral and biological processes underlying stages of reward responsiveness. Event-related potentials (ERPs) offer a promising method for examining the temporal dynamics of reward processing, but the literature has mainly focused on the feedback stage and often single components. We investigated the electrophysiological aspects of reward anticipation and initial response to reward using an ERP monetary incentive delay task in 114 emerging adults. Principal component analysis was used to derive temporally and spatially distinct ERP components sensitive to reward processing. Components that reflect initial engagement toward a cue indicating potential reward (cue-P3) and anticipation of possible reward feedback (stimulus-preceding negativity; SPN) emerged in the anticipatory stage. In the initial response to reward stage, a reward positivity (RewP) was found. We further tested the association between ERPs and self-reported facets of the behavioral activation system. Greater self-reported reward responsiveness was associated with heightened response in the anticipatory stage (i.e., cue-P3, SPN). Self-reported drive was positively associated with RewP, but fun-seeking was negatively associated with RewP. Additional components were observed beyond those identified in prior work, warranting future research on temporal dynamics of reward processing across stages. Furthermore, examination of a broader range of reward-related ERPs in clinical populations has the potential to more precisely characterize alterations in positive valence systems in psychopathology.

An fMRI investigation of the relations between Extraversion, internalizing psychopathology, and neural activation following reward receipt in the Human Connectome Project sample

Quantitative models of psychopathology (i.e., HiTOP) propose that personality and psychopathology are intertwined, such that the various processes that characterize personality traits may be useful in describing and predicting manifestations of psychopathology. In the current study, we used data from the Human Connectome Project (N = 1050) to investigate neural activation following receipt of a reward during an fMRI task as one shared mechanism that may be related to the personality trait Extraversion (specifically its sub-component Agentic Extraversion) and internalizing psychopathology. We also conducted exploratory analyses on the links between neural activation following reward receipt and the other Five-Factor Model personality traits, as well as separate analyses by gender. No significant relations (p < .005) were observed between any personality trait or index of psychopathology and neural activation following reward receipt, and most effect sizes were null to very small in nature (i.e., r < |.05|). We conclude by discussing the appropriate interpretation of these null findings, and provide suggestions for future research that spans psychological and neurobiological levels of analysis.

Neural and self-reported reward responsiveness are associated with dispositional affectivity and emotion dysregulation in adolescents with evidence for convergent and incremental validity

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by heightened reward sensitivity which, in turn, confers risk for pertinent negative outcomes, underscoring the need to better understand biological bases and behavioral correlates of reward responsiveness during this developmental phase. Our goals in the current study were to examine, in a sample of 43 typically developing adolescents (M_age  = 15.67 years; SD = 1.01; 32.6% boys), (1) evidence of convergent validity between neural and self-report reward responsiveness, (2) associations between neural reward responsiveness and self-report dispositional affectivity and emotion dysregulation (ED) and (3) evidence of incremental validity of self-report beyond neural reward responsiveness in predicting affectivity and ED. During electroencephalography (EEG), adolescents completed two experimental paradigms probing event-related potential (ERP) indices of reward anticipation and initial responsiveness to reward attainment. Following EEG, they completed self-report measures of reward responsiveness, affectivity, and ED. Findings indicated some evidence of convergent validity between enhanced ERP indices of reward anticipation and initial response to reward and greater reinforcement sensitivity; that ERP indices of both reward responsiveness aspects predicted lower negative affectivity and less ED; and evidence of incremental validity of self-report beyond neural reward responsiveness in predicting outcomes. Results underscore the utility of a multi-method framework in assessing adolescent reward responsiveness and support the relevance of reward responsiveness in explaining individual differences in dispositional affectivity and ED.

From Description to Explanation: Integrating Across Multiple Levels of Analysis to Inform Neuroscientific Accounts of Dimensional Personality Pathology

Dimensional approaches to psychiatric nosology are rapidly transforming the way researchers and clinicians conceptualize personality pathology, leading to a growing interest in describing how individuals differ from one another. Yet, in order to successfully prevent and treat personality pathology, it is also necessary to explain the sources of these individual differences. The emerging field of personality neuroscience is well-positioned to guide the transition from description to explanation within personality pathology research. However, establishing comprehensive, mechanistic accounts of personality pathology will require personality neuroscientists to move beyond atheoretical studies that link trait differences to neural correlates without considering the algorithmic processes that are carried out by those correlates. We highlight some of the dangers we see in overpopulating personality neuroscience with brain-trait associational studies and offer a series of recommendations for personality neuroscientists seeking to build explanatory theories of personality pathology.

Disinhibition and Detachment in Adolescence: A Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective on the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders

Personality pathology often emerges during adolescence, but attempts to understand its neurocognitive basis have traditionally been undermined by problems associated with the categorical classification of personality disorders. In contrast, dimensional models of personality pathology, such as the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) in DSM-5, may provide a stronger foundation for neurobiological investigations of maladaptive individual differences in personality. As an example, we review studies of the adolescent development of reward processing and cognitive control and connect these systems to the normal personality hierarchy and to two dimensions included in the AMPD - Detachment and Disinhibition. We argue that by linking developmental changes in these systems to the AMPD, researchers will be better positioned to understand the relationship between neurocognitive development and the expression of personality pathology in adolescence and early adulthood.

Developmental trajectories to reduced activation of positive valence systems: A review of biological and environmental contributions

Reduced activation of positive valence systems (PVS), including blunted neural and physiological responses to pleasant stimuli and rewards, has been shown to prospectively predict the development of psychopathology. Yet, little is known about how reduced PVS activation emerges across development or what implications it has for prevention. We review genetic, temperament, parenting, and naturalistic and laboratory stress research on neural measures of PVS and outline developmentally-informed models of trajectories of PVS activation. PVS function is partly heritable and appears to reflect individual differences in early-emerging temperament traits. Although lab-induced stressors blunt PVS activation, effects of parenting and naturalistic stress on PVS are mixed and depend on the type of stressor, developmental timing, and interactions amongst risk factors. We propose that there may be multiple, dynamic developmental trajectories to reduced PVS activation in which combinations of genes, temperament, and exposure to severe, prolonged, or uncontrollable stress may exert direct and interactive effects on PVS function. Critically, these risk factors may alter PVS developmental trajectories and/or PVS sensitivity to proximal stressors. Distinct factors may converge such that PVS activation proceeds along a typical, accelerated, chronically low, or stress-reactive trajectory. Finally, we present directions for future research with translational implications.

Effects of Maternal Depression and Mother-Child Relationship Quality in Early Childhood on Neural Reactivity to Rejection and Peer Stress in Adolescence: A 9-Year Longitudinal Study

Problems in mother-child relationships are thought to be key to intergenerational transmission of depression. To evaluate neural and behavioral processes involved in these pathways, we tested effects of maternal depression and maternal-child relationship quality in early childhood on neural and interviewer-based indicators of social processes in adolescence. At age 3, children and mothers (N=332) completed an observational parenting measure and diagnostic interviews with mothers. At age 12, adolescents completed a task in which event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to peer acceptance and rejection feedback and interviews to assess peer stress. Lower mother-child relationship quality at age 3 was associated with enhanced reactivity to rejection, as measured by N1, and greater peer stress at age 12. Indirect effects of maternal depression through mother-child relationship quality were observed for N1 and peer stress. Findings inform understanding of disruptions in social functioning that are likely relevant to the intergenerational transmission of depression.

Neural Dynamic Responses of Monetary and Social Reward Processes in Adolescents

Adolescence is an essential developmental period characterized by reward-related processes. The current study investigated the development of monetary and social reward processes in adolescents compared with that in children and adults; furthermore, it assessed whether adolescents had different levels of sensitivity to various types of rewards. Two adapted incentive delay tasks were employed for each participant, and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The behavioral results showed that both monetary and social rewards could motivate response speed, and participants were more accurate under the monetary reward condition than under the social reward condition. The behavioral performances of individuals increased with age. For the ERP data, the cue-P3, target-P2, target-P3 and feedback-related negativity (FRN) components were investigated to identify reward motivation, emotional arousal, attention allocation and feedback processing. Children and adolescents showed higher motivation (larger cue-P3) to rewards than adults. Adolescents showed larger emotional responses to rewards; that is, they had larger target-P2 amplitudes than adults and shorter target-P2 latencies than children. Children showed stronger emotional reactivity for monetary rewards than for social rewards. All age groups had stronger attentional control (larger target-P3) under the monetary reward condition than under the social reward condition. The present study sheds light on the neurodevelopment of reward processes in children, adolescents and adults and shows that various reward process stages demonstrate different age-related and reward-type-related characteristics.

Changes in event-related brain responses and habituation during child development - A systematic literature review

OBJECTIVE

This systematic review highlights the influence of developmental changes of the central nervous system on habituation assessment during child development. Therefore, studies on age dependant changes in event-related brain responses as well as studies on behavioural and neurophysiological habituation during child development are compiled and discussed.

METHODS

Two PubMed searches with terms "(development evoked brain response (fetus OR neonate OR children) (electroencephalography OR magnetoencephalography))" and with terms "(psychology habituation (fetal OR neonate OR children) (human brain))" were performed to identify studies on developmental changes in event-related brain responses as well as habituation studies during child development.

RESULTS

Both search results showed a wide diversity of subjects' ages, stimulation protocols and examined behaviour or components of event-related brain responses as well as a demand for more longitudinal study designs.

CONCLUSIONS

A conclusive statement about clear developmental trends in event-related brain responses or in neurophysiological habituation studies is difficult to draw. Future studies should implement longitudinal designs, combination of behavioural and neurophysiological habituation measurement and more complex habituation paradigms to assess several habituation criteria.

SIGNIFICANCE

This review emphasizes that event-related brain responses underlie certain changes during child development which should be more considered in the context of neurophysiological habituation studies.

Neural Response to Rewards, Stress and Sleep Interact to Prospectively Predict Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Girls

Blunted reward processing both characterizes major depressive disorder and predicts increases in depressive symptoms. However, little is known about the interaction between blunted reward processing and other risk factors in relation to increases in depressive symptoms. Stressful life events and sleep problems are prominent risk factors that contribute to the etiopathogenesis of depression and have been linked to reward dysfunction; these factors may interact with reward dysfunction to predict increased depressive symptoms. In a large sample of 8- to 14-year-old adolescent girls, the current study examined how blunted reward processing, stressful life events, and sleep problems at baseline interacted to predict increases in depressive symptoms 1 year later. Reward processing was indexed by the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential elicited during a simple monetary reward paradigm (i.e., Doors task). Two-way interactions confirmed that a blunted RewP predicted increased depressive symptoms at (a) high levels of stress but not average or low levels of stress, and (b) high and average levels of sleep problems but not low levels of sleep problems. Finally, a 3-way interaction confirmed that a blunted RewP predicted increased depressive symptoms at high levels of stress and sleep problems but not average or low levels of stress and sleep problems. Thus, adolescents characterized by low reward response (i.e., blunted RewP) were at an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms if they experienced increased stressful life events or sleep problems; moreover, risk was greatest among adolescents characterized by all 3.

Attachment security is associated with the experience of specific positive emotions in middle childhood

Adaptive emotion expression characterizes secure parent-child relationships in which children rely on attachment figures for secure base and safe haven support. We hypothesized that more securely attached children would report experiencing greater positive emotion. Children (N=92; M=11.91 years) completed the Friends and Family Interview which was coded for attachment security indicators (narrative coherence, mother and father safe haven support, mother and father secure base support). We analyzed Youth Values in Action Inventory strengths that reflected positive emotions (curiosity, zest, hope, love, gratitude). No attachment security indicators correlated with curiosity, all correlated with zest and gratitude, and four correlated with hope and love. Controlling for IQ, age, and temperament, attachment security significantly predicted positive emotion (12-19% variance); father secure base support uniquely predicted positive emotion. Our findings highlight the important role parental attachment plays in children's emotion experience and have implications for explaining why attachment might relate to children's other close relationships.

Reduced reward responsiveness moderates the effect of maternal depression on depressive symptoms in offspring: evidence across levels of analysis

BACKGROUND

Reduced reward responsiveness (RR) may contribute to depression vulnerability. At the neurophysiological level, RR is reliably and validly assessed using the reward positivity (RewP) event-related potential component. We previously identified a blunted RewP in 9-year-old children at high risk for depression due to maternal depression, but the role of RR in pathways from parental history to the development of depressive symptoms has not been examined.

METHODS

At age 9, never-depressed children (N = 369) completed a task in which RewP was measured in response to monetary reward and loss feedback. Parental history of depression was assessed using semistructured interviews, and children reported on their depressive symptoms. At age 12, youth depressive symptoms were reassessed, along with a self-report measure of RR. We tested RR as a moderator of the effects of parental depression on depressive symptoms at age 12, using both neurophysiological and self-report measures and controlling for age 9 symptoms.

RESULTS

Main effects of RR and interactions with maternal depression were significant. Maternal depression predicted greater depressive symptoms in youth with blunted and average RewP but was not a significant predictor in youth with an enhanced RewP. A similar pattern was observed for self-reported RR. The two measures of RR were not correlated with each other and accounted for unique variance in symptoms. Interactions between RR and paternal depression were not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Reduced RR, as measured by neurophysiology and self-report, moderates the effects of maternal depression on depressive symptoms in offspring. Assessment of RR along with risk factors such as parental depression may aid in identifying children at greatest risk and enhancing RR could be a potential target for prevention. Results highlight the utility of multimethod approaches for advancing understanding of depression risk.

A preliminary examination of the relation between neural sensitivity to reward and history of alcohol use disorder among adults with internalizing psychopathologies

Decreased reward responsiveness, as demonstrated utilizing the event-related potential (ERP) component the reward positivity (RewP), is an established correlate of internalizing psychopathologies (IPs), such as depressive and anxiety disorders. Although IPs are highly comorbid with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and despite evidence that AUDs are also characterized by aberrant reward processing styles, no studies have examined how AUD history impacts the RewP among adults with IPs. The current preliminary study sought to examine this question in a sample of 65 adults with 1) current IPs (i.e., depression, social anxiety, and/or generalized anxiety, 2) current IPs with a history of an AUD (IP + Past AUD), and 3) no history of a DSM-IV disorder. Participants completed a guessing reward task while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Results indicated that participants in the IP group exhibited a more attenuated RewP relative to IP + Past AUD and healthy control individuals. Findings from this study highlight the importance of examining diagnostic subgroups among adults with anxiety and depressive disorders, and suggest that a history of AUD may enhance reward reactivity at the neural level in individuals with IPs.

Extraversion, neuroticism, and the electrocortical response to monetary rewards in adolescent girls

Affective personality traits, such as extraversion and neuroticism, are associated with individual differences in reward system functioning. The reward positivity (ΔRewP) is an event-related potential (ERP) component that indexes sensitivity to reward, and can be elicited by feedback indicating monetary gains relative to losses. In a sample of 508 adolescent girls, the current study examined the relationship between extraversion, neuroticism, and their respective facets and the ΔRewP. Results indicated an Extraversion × Neuroticism interaction, such that greater extraversion was associated with an increased ΔRewP, but only in the context of low neuroticism. This association was primarily due to the extraversion facet positive emotionality-high levels of positive emotionality were associated with an increased ΔRewP, but only in the context of low neuroticism. In addition, increased neuroticism diminished the age-related increase in the ΔRewP. The current study suggests that both extraversion and neuroticism are associated with reward system function in adolescence.

The Influence of Different Kinds of Incentives on Decision-Making and Cognitive Control in Adolescent Development: A Review of Behavioral and Neuroscientific Studies

A number of recent hypothetical models on adolescent development take a dual-systems perspective and propose an imbalance in the maturation of neural systems underlying reward-driven and control-related behavior. In particular, such models suggest that the relative dominance of the early emerging subcortical reward system over the later emerging prefrontal-guided control system leads to higher risk-taking and sensation-seeking behavior in mid-adolescents. Here, we will review recent empirical evidence from behavioral and neuroscientific studies examining interactions between these systems and showing that empirical evidence in support for the view of a higher sensitivity to rewards in mid-adolescents is rather mixed. One possible explanation for this may be the use of different kinds and amounts of incentives across studies. We will therefore include developmental studies comparing the differential influence of primary and secondary incentives, as well as those investigating within the class of secondary incentives the effects of monetary, cognitive, or social incentives. We hypothesized that the value of receiving sweets or sours, winning or losing small or large amounts of money, and being accepted or rejected from a peer group may also changes across development, and thereby might modulate age differences in decision-making and cognitive control. Our review revealed that although developmental studies directly comparing different kinds of incentives are rather scarce, results of various studies rather consistently showed only minor age differences in the impact of incentives on the behavioral level. In tendency, adolescents were more sensitive to higher amounts of incentives and larger uncertainty of receiving them, as well as to social incentives such as the presence of peers observing them. Electrophysiological studies showed that processing efficiency was enhanced during anticipation of incentives and receiving them, irrespective of incentive type. Again, we found no strong evidence for interactions with age across studies. Finally, functional brain imaging studies revealed evidence for overlapping brain regions activated during processing of primary and secondary incentives, as well as social and non-social incentives. Adolescents recruited similar reward-related and control-related brain regions as adults did, but to a different degree. Implications for future research will be discussed.

A comparison of the electrocortical response to monetary and social reward

Affective science research on reward processing has primarily focused on monetary rewards. There has been a growing interest in evaluating the neural basis of social decision-making and reward processing. The present study employed a within-subject design and compared the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential component that is present following favorable feedback and absent or reduced following unfavorable feedback, during monetary and social reward tasks. Specifically, 114 participants (75 females) completed a monetary reward task and a novel social reward task that were matched on trial structure, timing, and feedback stimuli in a counterbalanced order. Results indicated that the monetary and social RewP were of similar magnitude, positively correlated and demonstrated comparable psychometric properties, including reliability and dependability. Across both the monetary and social tasks, women demonstrated a greater RewP compared with men. This study provides a novel methodological approach toward examining the electrocortical response to social reward that is comparable to monetary reward.

A longitudinal examination of event-related potentials sensitive to monetary reward and loss feedback from late childhood to middle adolescence

Brain regions involved in reward processing undergo developmental changes from childhood to adolescence, and alterations in reward-related brain function are thought to contribute to the development of psychopathology. Event-related potentials (ERPs), such as the reward positivity (RewP) component, are valid measures of reward responsiveness that are easily assessed across development and provide insight into temporal dynamics of reward processing. Little work has systematically examined developmental changes in ERPs sensitive to reward. In this longitudinal study of 75 youth assessed 3 times across 6years, we used principal components analyses (PCA) to differentiate ERPs sensitive to monetary reward and loss feedback in late childhood, early adolescence, and middle adolescence. We then tested reliability of, and developmental changes in, ERPs. A greater number of ERP components differentiated reward and loss feedback in late childhood compared to adolescence, but components in childhood accounted for only a small proportion of variance. A component consistent with RewP was the only one to consistently emerge at each of the 3 assessments. RewP demonstrated acceptable reliability, particularly from early to middle adolescence, though reliability estimates varied depending on scoring approach and developmental period. The magnitude of the RewP component did not significantly change across time. Results provide insight into developmental changes in the structure of ERPs sensitive to reward, and indicate that RewP is a consistently observed and relatively stable measure of reward responsiveness, particularly across adolescence.

Neural reactivity to reward and internalizing symptom dimensions

BACKGROUND

Reduced reward responsiveness, measured via the event-related potential (ERP) component the reward positivity (RewP), has been linked to several internalizing psychopathologies (IPs). Specifically, prior studies suggest that a reduced RewP is robustly related to depression and to a lesser extent anxiety. No studies to date, however, have examined the relation between the RewP and IP symptom dimensions in a heterogeneous, clinically representative patient population that includes both depressed and/or anxious subjects. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the relation between the RewP and specific internalizing symptom dimensions among patients with a variety of IP diagnoses and symptoms.

METHODS

A total of 80 treatment seeking adults from the community completed a battery of questionnaires assessing a range of IP symptoms and a well-validated reward processing task known to robustly elicit the RewP.

RESULTS

A principal components analysis (PCA) on clinical assessments revealed two distinct factors that characterized the patient sample: affective distress/misery and fear-based anxiety. Results showed that within this sample, an attenuated RewP was associated with greater affective distress/misery based symptoms; however, the RewP was unrelated to fear-based anxiety symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings suggest that patients with higher distress/misery symptoms are characterized by decreased responsivity to rewards at the physiological level, and that this response tendency distinguishes distress/misery symptoms from fear-based symptoms. The RewP may be one promising transdiagnostic biological target for intervention efforts for individuals with distress-based symptoms of psychopathology.

The Stony Brook Temperament Study: Early Antecedents and Pathways to Emotional Disorders

In this article, we summarize findings from the Stony Brook Temperament Study, which seeks to elucidate the early antecedents and pathways to later depressive and anxiety disorders. The study focuses on parents' internalizing disorders and children's early temperament as distal risk factors that operate, in part, through biobehavioral reward and threat systems. We summarize findings linking parents' emotional disorders and observations of children's early temperament to subsequent neural measures of children's affective processing. Next, we review findings showing that children's temperament and affective processing predict subsequent depression and anxiety. We also show that many of these associations are moderated by environmental factors, such as parenting and stress. Finally, we relate our findings to literature on the relationships of early temperament and affective processing to anxiety and depression in youth.

Behavioral observations of positive and negative valence systems in early childhood predict physiological measures of emotional processing three years later

BACKGROUND

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs of Positive Valence Systems (PVS) and Negative Valence Systems (NVS) are presumed to manifest behaviorally through early-emerging temperamental negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA). The late positive potential (LPP) is a physiological measure of attention towards both negative and positive emotional stimuli; however, its associations with behavioral aspects of PVS and NVS have yet to be examined.

METHODS

In a community sample of children (N = 340), we examined longitudinal relationships between observational measures of temperamental PA and NA assessed at age 6, and the LPP to both pleasant and unpleasant images assessed at age 9.

RESULTS

Lower PA at age 6 predicted reduced LPP amplitudes to pleasant, but not unpleasant, images. NA as a composite measure was not related to the LPP, but specific associations were observed with facets of NA: greater fear predicted an enhanced LPP to unpleasant images, whereas greater sadness predicted a reduced LPP to unpleasant images.

LIMITATIONS

We were unable to evaluate concurrent associations between behavioral observations of temperament and the LPP, and effect sizes were modest.

CONCLUSIONS

Results support correspondence between behavioral and physiological measures of emotional processing across development, and provide evidence of discriminant validity in that PA was specifically related to the LPP to pleasant images, while facets of NA were specifically linked to the LPP to unpleasant images. Distinct associations of temperamental sadness and fear with the LPP highlight the importance of further evaluating subconstructs of NVS.

Vulnerability to Depression in Youth: Advances from Affective Neuroscience

Vulnerability models of depression posit that individual differences in trait-like vulnerabilities emerge early in life and increase risk for the later development of depression. In this review, we summarize advances from affective neuroscience using neural measures to assess vulnerabilities in youth at high risk for depression due to parental history of depression or temperament style, as well as prospective designs evaluating the predictive validity of these vulnerabilities for symptoms and diagnoses of depression across development. Evidence from multiple levels of analysis indicates that healthy youth at high risk for depression exhibit abnormalities in components of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) positive valence systems, including blunted activation in the striatum during reward anticipation and feedback, and that some of these measures can be used to predict later symptoms. In addition, alterations in components of RDoC's negative valence systems, including neural processing of sadness, loss, and threat, have been observed in risk for depression, though effects appear to be more task and method dependent. Within the social processes domain, preliminary evidence indicates that neural processing of social feedback, including heightened reactivity to exclusion and blunted response to social reward, may be related to depression vulnerability. These studies indicate that affective neuroscience can inform understanding of developmental pathways to depression and identify altered emotional processing among youth at high risk. We provide an integrated summary of consistent findings from this literature, along with recommendations for future directions and implications for early intervention.

Future Research Directions in the Positive Valence Systems: Measurement, Development, and Implications for Youth Unipolar Depression

The Positive Valence Systems (PVS) have been introduced by the National Institute of Mental Health as a domain to help organize multiple constructs focusing on reward-seeking behaviors. However, the initial working model for this domain is strongly influenced by adult constructs and measures. Thus, the present review focuses on extending the PVS into a developmental context. Specifically, the review provides some hypotheses about the structure of the PVS, how PVS components may change throughout development, how family history of depression may influence PVS development, and potential means of intervening on PVS function to reduce onsets of depression. Future research needs in each of these areas are highlighted.

Blunted reward processing in remitted melancholic depression

Blunted reward response appears to be a trait-like marker of vulnerability for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). As such, it should be present in remitted individuals; however, depression is a heterogeneous syndrome. Reward-related impairments may be more pronounced in individuals with melancholic depression. The present study examined neural responses to rewards in remitted melancholic depression (rMD; N = 29), remitted non-melancholic depression (rNMD; N = 56), and healthy controls (HC; N = 81). Event-related potentials to monetary gain and loss were recorded during a simple gambling paradigm. rMD was characterized by a blunted response to rewards relative to both the HC and the rNMD groups, who did not differ from one another. Moreover, the rMD and rNMD groups did not differ in course or severity of their past illnesses, or current depressive symptoms or functioning. Results suggest that blunted response to rewards may be a viable vulnerability marker for melancholic depression.

NEURAL REACTIVITY TO REWARD AS A PREDICTOR OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY RESPONSE IN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

BACKGROUND

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a well-established treatment for anxiety and depression; however, response to CBT is heterogeneous across patients and many remain symptomatic after therapy, raising the need to identify prospective predictors for treatment planning. Altered neural processing of reward has been implicated in both depression and anxiety, and improving hedonic capacity is a goal of CBT. However, little is known about how neural response to reward relates to CBT outcomes in depression and anxiety. The current study used the reward positivity (RewP) event-related potential (ERP) component to examine whether neural reactivity to reward would predict CBT response in a sample of patients with anxiety without depression (n = 30) and comorbid anxiety and depression (CAD, n = 22).

METHODS

Participants completed a guessing reward ERP paradigm before completing 12 weeks of standard CBT.

RESULTS

The majority of the sample (68%; 35 out of 52 patients) responded to treatment, and those with a reduced RewP at baseline were more likely to respond to treatment. A reduced RewP was also associated with a greater pre-to-post CBT reduction in depressive symptoms among individuals with CAD, but not among individuals with pure anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

CBT may be most beneficial in reducing depressive symptoms for individuals who demonstrate decreased reward reactivity prior to treatment. CBT may target reward brain function, leading to greater improvement in symptoms. These effects may be strongest, and therefore most meaningful, for individuals with reward-processing deficits prior to treatment.

Longitudinal Associations Between Preschool Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder Symptoms and Neural Reactivity to Monetary Reward During Preadolescence

OBJECTIVE

Reward-processing abnormalities are thought to be a key feature of various psychiatric disorders and may also play a role in disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD), a new diagnosis in DSM-5. In the current study, we used event-related potentials (ERP) sensitive to monetary gains (i.e., the reward positivity [RewP]) and losses (i.e., the N200) to examine associations between symptoms of DMDD during early childhood and later reward processing during preadolescence.

METHODS

To assess early emerging DMDD symptoms in a large longitudinal community sample (n=373) of 3-year old children, we administered a diagnostic interview, Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA) with parents. At a later assessment, ∼6 years later, children completed a monetary reward task while an electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Children's lifetime history of psychopathology was also assessed at that time using Kiddie-Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS) with the child and parent.

RESULTS

Multiple regression analyses revealed that age 3 DMDD symptoms predicted an enhanced RewP to monetary rewards in preadolescence. This association is independent of demographics and lifetime history of symptoms of depression, any anxiety disorder, attention-deficit disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, or conduct disorder Conclusions: Early manifestations of DMDD in children as young as 3 years old predicted enhanced reward processing later in development. These findings add to the growing corpus of literature on the pathophysiology of DMDD, and underscore the predictive validity of preschool DMDD on a neural level.

Depression from childhood through adolescence: Risk mechanisms across multiple systems and levels of analysis

This paper selectively reviews recent research, especially in the last two years (2012-2014) in preschool, child, and adolescent depression. In particular, attention is paid to developmental epidemiology as well as risk factors and processes that contribute to depression trajectories over time. Emphasis is placed on a developmental psychopathology perspective in which risks are instantiated across multiple systems and levels of analysis, including genetics, stress contexts and processes, biological stress mechanisms, temperament, emotion, reward, cognitive factors and processes, and interpersonal influences. These risks dynamically transact over time, as they emerge and stabilize into relatively trait-like vulnerabilities that confer risk for the increasing rates of depression observed in adolescence. Overall, this summary illustrates that considerable progress has been made recently in understanding the complex developmental processes contributing to depression. Finally, a few gaps are highlighted as opportunities for future research.