TY - JOUR
T1 - Anhedonia is associated with blunted reward sensitivity in first-degree relatives of patients with major depression
AU - Liu, W.-H.
AU - Roiser, J.P.
AU - Wang, L.-Z.
AU - Zhu, Y.-H.
AU - Huang, J.
AU - Neumann, D.L.
AU - Shum, Ho Keung David
AU - Cheung, E.F.C.
AU - Chan, R.C.K.
PY - 2016/1/15
Y1 - 2016/1/15
N2 - © 2015 Elsevier B.V.Background Anhedonia is a cardinal feature of major depression and is hypothesized to be driven by low motivation, in particular blunted reward sensitivity. It has been suggested to be a marker that represents a genetic predisposition to this disorder. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this heightened risk in unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with major depression. We previously demonstrated abnormal reward biases in acutely depressed patients. The present study aimed to examine the development of reward bias in first-degree relatives of patients with major depression. Methods Forty-seven first-degree relatives of patients with major depression (26 females, age 18-52) and 60 healthy controls with no family history of depression (34 females, age 21-48) were recruited. A probabilistically rewarded difficult visual discrimination task, in which participants were instructed about the contingencies, was used to assess blunted reward sensitivity. A response bias towards the more frequently rewarded stimulus (termed "reward bias") was the primary outcome variable in this study. Participants also completed self-reported measures of anhedonia and depressive symptoms. Results Compared with the control group, relatives of patients with major depression with sub-clinical depressive symptoms displayed a blunted reward bias. Relatives without symptoms displayed largely intact motivational processing on both self-report and experimental measures. The degree of anhedonia was associated with attenuated reward bias in first-degree relatives of patients with major depression, especially in those with sub-clinical symptoms. Limitations The study did not include a depressed patient group, which restricted our ability to interpret the observed group differences. Conclusions Blunted reward sensitivity may be largely manifested in a subgroup of relatives with high levels of depressive symptoms.
AB - © 2015 Elsevier B.V.Background Anhedonia is a cardinal feature of major depression and is hypothesized to be driven by low motivation, in particular blunted reward sensitivity. It has been suggested to be a marker that represents a genetic predisposition to this disorder. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this heightened risk in unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with major depression. We previously demonstrated abnormal reward biases in acutely depressed patients. The present study aimed to examine the development of reward bias in first-degree relatives of patients with major depression. Methods Forty-seven first-degree relatives of patients with major depression (26 females, age 18-52) and 60 healthy controls with no family history of depression (34 females, age 21-48) were recruited. A probabilistically rewarded difficult visual discrimination task, in which participants were instructed about the contingencies, was used to assess blunted reward sensitivity. A response bias towards the more frequently rewarded stimulus (termed "reward bias") was the primary outcome variable in this study. Participants also completed self-reported measures of anhedonia and depressive symptoms. Results Compared with the control group, relatives of patients with major depression with sub-clinical depressive symptoms displayed a blunted reward bias. Relatives without symptoms displayed largely intact motivational processing on both self-report and experimental measures. The degree of anhedonia was associated with attenuated reward bias in first-degree relatives of patients with major depression, especially in those with sub-clinical symptoms. Limitations The study did not include a depressed patient group, which restricted our ability to interpret the observed group differences. Conclusions Blunted reward sensitivity may be largely manifested in a subgroup of relatives with high levels of depressive symptoms.
KW - Anhedonia
KW - Depression
KW - Reward
KW - Risk factors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84947422791&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2015.10.050
DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2015.10.050
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 26590511
SN - 0165-0327
VL - 190
SP - 640
EP - 648
JO - Journal of Affective Disorders
JF - Journal of Affective Disorders
ER -
