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Qiu Y, Dou H, Wang J, Zhang H, Zhang S, Shen D, Li H, Lei Y. Reduced generalization of reward among individuals with subthreshold depression: Behavioral and EEG evidence. Int J Psychophysiol 2024; 200:112339. [PMID: 38554769 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Altered stimulus generalization has been well-documented in anxiety disorders; however, there is a paucity of research investigating this phenomenon in the context of depression. Depression is characterized by impaired reward processing and heightened attention to negative stimuli. It is hypothesized that individuals with depression exhibit reduced generalization of reward stimuli and enhanced generalization of loss stimuli. Nevertheless, no study has examined this process and its underlying neural mechanisms. In the present study, we recruited 25 participants with subthreshold depression (SD group) and 24 age-matched healthy controls (HC group). Participants completed an acquisition task, in which they learned to associate three distinct pure tones (conditioned stimuli, CSs) with a reward, a loss, or no outcome. Subsequently, a generalization session was conducted, during which similar tones (generalization stimuli, GSs) were presented, and participants were required to classify them as a reward tone, a loss tone, or neither. The results revealed that the SD group exhibited reduced generalization errors in the early phase of generalization, suggesting a diminished ability to generalize reward-related stimuli. The event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that the SD group exhibited decreased generalization of positive valence to reward-related GSs and heightened generalization of negative valence to loss-related GSs, as reflected by the N1 and P2 components. However, the late positive potential (LPP) was not modulated by depression in reward generalization or loss generalization. These findings suggested that individuals with subthreshold depression may have a blunted or reduced ability to generalize reward stimuli, shedding light on potential treatment strategies targeting this particular process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiwen Qiu
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Haoran Dou
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Jinxia Wang
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China; Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland
| | - Huoyin Zhang
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Shiyunmeng Zhang
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Die Shen
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Hong Li
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for studies of Psychological Applications Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, Ministry of Education School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China.
| | - Yi Lei
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China.
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Wang J, Shen S, Becker B, Hei Lam Tsang M, Mei Y, Wikgren J, Lei Y. Neurocognitive mechanisms of mental imagery-based disgust learning. Behav Res Ther 2024; 175:104502. [PMID: 38402674 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2024.104502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Revised: 02/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Disgust imagery represents a potential pathological mechanism for disgust-related disorders. However, it remains controversial as to whether disgust can be conditioned with disgust-evoking mental imagery serving as the unconditioned stimulus (US). Therefore, we examined this using a conditioned learning paradigm in combination with event-related potential (ERP) analysis in 35 healthy college students. The results indicated that the initial neutral face (conditioned stimulus, CS+) became more disgust-evoking, unpleasant, and arousing after pairing with disgust-evoking imagery (disgust CS+), compared to pairing with neutral (neutral CS+) and no (CS-) imagery. Moreover, we observed that mental imagery-based disgust conditioning was resistant to extinction. While the disgust CS + evoked larger P3 and late positive potential amplitudes than CS- during acquisition, no significant differences were found between disgust CS+ and neutral CS+, indicating a dissociation between self-reported and neurophysiological responses. Future studies may additionally acquire facial EMG as an implicit index of conditioned disgust. This study provides the first neurobiological evidence that associative disgust learning can occur without aversive physical stimuli, with implications for understanding how disgust-related disorders may manifest or deteriorate without external perceptual aversive experiences, such as in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinxia Wang
- Institute for Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China; Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland
| | - Siyi Shen
- Institute for Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China
| | - Benjamin Becker
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Michelle Hei Lam Tsang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Ying Mei
- Institute for Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China; Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland
| | - Jan Wikgren
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland
| | - Yi Lei
- Institute for Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China.
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Neural responding during uncertain threat anticipation in pediatric anxiety. Int J Psychophysiol 2023; 183:159-170. [PMID: 35985508 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Revised: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Excessive fear responses to uncertain threat are a key feature of anxiety disorders (ADs), though most mechanistic work considers adults. As ADs onset in childhood and confer risk for later psychopathology, we sought to identify conditions of uncertain threat that distinguish 8-17-year-old youth with AD (n = 19) from those without AD (n = 33), and assess test-retest reliability of such responses in a companion sample of healthy adults across three sites (n = 19). In an adapted uncertainty of threat paradigm, visual cues parametrically signaled threat of aversive stimuli (fear faces) in 25 % increments (0 %, 25 %, 50 %, 100 %), while participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We compared neural response elicited by cues signaling different degrees of probability regarding the subsequent delivery of fear faces. Overall, youth displayed greater engagement of bilateral inferior parietal cortex, fusiform gyrus, and lingual gyrus during uncertain threat anticipation in general. Relative to healthy youth, AD youth exhibited greater activation in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC)/BA47 during uncertain threat anticipation in general. Further, AD differed from healthy youth in scaling of ventral striatum/sgACC activation with threat probability and attenuated flexibility of responding during parametric uncertain threat. Complementing these results, significant, albeit modest, cross-site test-retest reliability in these regions was observed in an independent sample of healthy adults. While preliminary due to a small sample size, these findings suggest that during uncertainty of threat, AD youth engage vlPFC regions known to be involved in fear regulation, response inhibition, and cognitive control. Findings highlight the potential of isolating neural correlates of threat anticipation to guide treatment development and translational work in youth.
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Klein Z, Abend R, Shmuel S, Shechner T. Unique Associations between Conditioned Cognitive and Physiological Threat Responses and Facets of Anxiety Symptomatology in Youth. Biol Psychol 2022; 170:108314. [PMID: 35301083 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2022] [Revised: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
This study examined associations between anxiety symptomatology and cognitive and physiological threat responses during threat learning in a large sample of children and adolescents. Anxiety symptomatology severity along different dimensions (generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, and panic symptoms) was measured using parental and self-reports. Participants completed differential threat acquisition and extinction using an age-appropriate threat conditioning task. They then returned to the lab after 7-10 days to complete an extinction recall task that also assessed threat generalization. Results indicated that more severe overall anxiety was associated with greater cognitive and physiological threat responses during acquisition, extinction, and extinction recall. During acquisition and extinction, all anxiety dimensions manifested greater cognitive threat responses, while panic, separation anxiety, and social anxiety symptoms, but not generalized anxiety, were related to heightened physiological threat responses. In contrast, when we assessed generalization of cognitive threat responses, we found only generalized anxiety symptoms were associated with greater threat response generalization. The study provides preliminary evidence of specificity in threat responses during threat learning across youth with different anxiety symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zohar Klein
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Rany Abend
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Shahar Shmuel
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Tomer Shechner
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel.
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