Did I do that? Efficacy estimation distinguishes rumination and anhedonia symptomatology

Accurately tracking the effectiveness of one's effort is critical for adaptive behavior. However, this process may be altered in rumination and anhedonia, two symptoms that have been associated with failures in low-level cognitive processes that are relevant to the estimation of effort efficacy METHODS: Here, we empirically tested this question in an online sample (N=611), where participants completed an efficacy tracking task where they had to estimate the efficacy of their effort in environments where true efficacy was either low or high RESULTS: Participants with high-rumination and low-anhedonia showed selectively impaired efficacy estimation in low-efficacy contexts, consistent with excessive self-attribution when control is objectively limited. In contrast, higher anhedonia predicted an under-attribution of efficacy across conditions, characterized by a disproportionate learning from non-performance-based feedback. Pre-registered robustness and sensitivity analyses supported effect stability CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that rumination and anhedonia are associated with dissociable disruptions in efficacy estimation and tracking - over-attribution of control in low-efficacy environments versus a generalized under-attribution of efficacy - providing mechanistic support for distinct computational profiles underlying these transdiagnostic symptoms. Implications for precision intervention and future research in computational psychiatry are discussed.