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Related Experiment Videos

Explicit and implicit reinforcement learning across the psychosis spectrum.

Deanna M Barch1, Cameron S Carter2, James M Gold3

  • 1Departments of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Psychiatry, and Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology
|April 14, 2017
PubMed
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Individuals with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder show deficits in explicit reinforcement learning (RL), impacting motivation and pleasure. Implicit RL remains intact across these psychotic disorders.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Motivational and hedonic impairments are central to psychopathology.
  • Reinforcement learning (RL), encompassing implicit and explicit processes, is crucial for motivation.
  • Understanding RL deficits may illuminate transdiagnostic symptoms in psychotic disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess implicit and explicit reinforcement learning (RL) in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder with psychosis.
  • To examine the relationship between RL performance and specific symptom domains.
  • To investigate the role of working memory in these relationships.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized reinforcement learning (RL) paradigms to evaluate implicit and explicit learning (positive and negative).

Related Experiment Videos

  • Assessed individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder with psychosis, alongside control groups.
  • Correlated RL task performance with motivation, pleasure, and working memory measures.

    • Main Results:

    • No significant differences in implicit RL between patient groups and controls.
    • Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder groups, but not bipolar disorder, exhibited impaired explicit RL compared to controls.
    • Worse explicit RL performance correlated with diminished motivation and pleasure symptoms across diagnoses.
    • Explicit RL, not implicit RL, was linked to working memory, partially explaining group differences.

    Conclusions:

    • Explicit reinforcement learning (RL) deficits are transdiagnostically associated with motivation and pleasure impairments in psychotic disorders.
    • Implicit RL is preserved, suggesting specific deficits in conscious reward-based learning.
    • Working memory influences explicit RL but does not fully mediate its link to motivational symptoms.