File(s) under permanent embargo
Brain-behavior Relationships in Depression: Linking Neural Reward Sensitivity to Ecological Momentary Assessment Ratings
Reward dysfunction is thought to be play a critical role in the pathogenesis of depression.
Evidence from psychophysiological studies have implicated reduced neural deficits in
reward sensitivity to depressive symptomatology. However, a critical gap in existing
research is how neurobiological deficits of depression that were captured in controlled
laboratory contexts map on to reward-related dysfunctions (i.e., inertia) in people’s
naturalistic environments. The current study approaches this gap by integrating event-
related potentials (ERPs) with ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in order to
clarify brain-behavior relationships in depression. Event-related potentials were collected
from a large adult sample (N = 142) during two theoretically distinct laboratory tasks:
social and monetary reward. Of interest were ERPs across substages of anticipatory and
consummatory phases of reward processing: cue salience (cue-P3), outcome anticipation
(SPN), early outcome evaluation (RewP), and outcome salience (fb-P3). Participants also
completed a 6-day EMA data collection wherein they rated their anticipatory and
consummatory pleasure of social and nonsocial activities. Reduced SPN amplitude and daily EMA pleasure ratings (anticipatory and consummatory) were associated with
greater depressive symptoms. Next, the results from the multilevel model analysis
showed evidence of inertia. Furthermore, multiple significant interactions emerged for
anticipatory pleasure: (1) two-way interplay between inertia and depression; and (2)
three-way interaction between inertia, cue-P3 amplitude on monetary reward, and
depression. Significant interactions for consummatory pleasure included: (1) two-way
interplay between inertia and RewP amplitude on social rewards in predicting
consummatory pleasure; and (2) three-way interaction between inertia, fb-P3 to positive social feedback, and depression. This is the first study to show how neural measures of
reward processing map onto relevant temporal processes (inertia) in naturalistic contexts.
History
Degree Type
- Doctor of Philosophy
Department
- Psychological Sciences
Campus location
- West Lafayette