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Neural reactivity to reward and internalizing symptom dimensions
Katie L Burkhouse1, Stephanie M Gorka1, Kaveh Afshar1
1University of Illinois-Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, 1747 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL 60608, USA.
Journal of Affective Disorders
|April 10, 2017
Summary
Reduced reward positivity (RewP), a measure of reward responsiveness, is linked to affective distress but not fear-based anxiety in patients with internalizing psychopathologies. This suggests RewP may be a target for distress-based symptom interventions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Reduced reward responsiveness, indicated by the event-related potential (ERP) component Reward Positivity (RewP), is associated with internalizing psychopathologies (IPs) like depression and anxiety.
- Previous research has not investigated the RewP's relationship with specific IP symptom dimensions in a diverse clinical population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between the RewP and distinct internalizing symptom dimensions in a heterogeneous patient sample with various IP diagnoses.
- To determine if RewP differences correlate with specific symptom clusters within internalizing disorders.
Main Methods:
- 80 treatment-seeking adults with internalizing symptoms completed questionnaires and a reward processing task to elicit the RewP.
- Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to identify distinct symptom dimensions from clinical assessments.
Main Results:
- PCA identified two primary symptom dimensions: affective distress/misery and fear-based anxiety.
- An attenuated RewP was significantly associated with greater affective distress/misery symptoms.
- The RewP showed no significant association with fear-based anxiety symptoms.
Conclusions:
- Patients with higher affective distress/misery exhibit reduced reward responsivity at a physiological level, distinguishing these symptoms from fear-based anxiety.
- The RewP may serve as a transdiagnostic biological marker for interventions targeting distress-based symptoms in psychopathology.