The Brain’s Response to Reward Anticipation and Depression in Adolescence: Dimensionality, Specificity, and Longitudinal Predictions in a Community-Based Sample
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: The authors examined whether alterations in the brain's reward network operate as a mechanism across the spectrum of risk for depression. They then tested whether these alterations are specific to anhedonia as compared with low mood and whether they are predictive of depressive outcomes. METHOD: Functional MRI was used to collect blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses to anticipation of reward in the monetary incentive task in 1,576 adolescents in a community-based sample. Adolescents with current subthreshold depression and clinical depression were compared with matched healthy subjects. In addition, BOLD responses were compared across adolescents with anhedonia, low mood, or both symptoms, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. RESULTS: Activity in the ventral striatum was reduced in participants with subthreshold and clinical depression relative to healthy comparison subjects. Low ventral striatum activation predicted transition to subthreshold or clinical depression in previously healthy adolescents at 2-year follow-up. Brain responses during reward anticipation decreased in a graded manner between healthy adolescents, adolescents with current or future subthreshold depression, and adolescents with current or future clinical depression. Low ventral striatum activity was associated with anhedonia but not low mood; however, the combined presence of both symptoms showed the strongest reductions in the ventral striatum in all analyses. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that reduced striatal activation operates as a mechanism across the risk spectrum for depression. It is associated with anhedonia in healthy adolescents and is a behavioral indicator of positive valence systems, consistent with predictions based on the Research Domain Criteria.
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In a large youth sample, blunted reward-related ventral striatum correlated with anhedonia (but not low mood) and predicted transition to subthreshold or clinical depression 2 years later among previously healthy youths.
“In a large youth sample (N = 1576; mean age: ~14 years), blunted reward-related ventral striatum correlated with anhedonia (but not low mood) and predicted transition to subthreshold or clinical depression 2 years later among previously healthy youths ([119]; see also [120]).”
From Prefrontal cortex and depression (2022) · cites this paper as [119]
Impaired reward processing is associated with such symptoms across different psychiatric disorders.
“This is in line with previous literature suggesting that impaired reward processing is associated with such symptoms across different psychiatric disorders.56,61,121–125”
From Investigating disorder-specific and transdiagnostic alterations in model-based and model-free decision-making (2024) · cites this paper as [125]
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- Authors
- Stringaris, A., Vidal-Ribas Belil, P., Artiges, E., Lemaitre, H., Gollier-Briant, F., Wolke, S., Vulser, H., Miranda, R., Penttilä, J., Struve, M., Fadai, T., Kappel, V., Grimmer, Y., Goodman, R., Poustka, L., Conrod, P., Cattrell, A., Banaschewski, T., Bokde, A. L. W., Bromberg, U., Büchel, C., Flor, H., Frouin, V., Gallinat, J., Garavan, H., Gowland, P., Heinz, A., Ittermann, B., Nees, F., Papadopoulos, D., Paus, T., Smolka, M. N., Walter, H., Whelan, R., Martinot, J.-L., Schumann, G., Paillère-Martinot, M.-L., & IMAGEN Consortium
- Affiliations
- Inserm (FR)
- From the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, London; INSERM, UMR 1000, Research Unit Imaging and Psychiatry, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, Orsay, France; University Paris-Sud 11, Orsay; Paris Descartes University, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris; AP-HP, Department of Adolescent Psychopathology and Medicine, Maison de Solenn, Cochin Hospital, Paris; Psychiatry Department 91G16, Orsay Hospital, Orsay; Neurospin,...
- University of Vermont (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stringaris, Argyris
- ORCID
- Stringaris, Argyris
- Gollier-Briant, Fanny
- Wolke, Selina
- Vulser, Hélène
- Penttilä, Jani
- Struve, Maren
- Grimmer, Yvonne
- Goodman, Robert
- Poustka, Luise
- Conrod, Patricia
- Banaschewski, Tobias
- Bokde, Arun L.W.
- Bromberg, Uli
- Büchel, Christian
- Flor, Herta
- Frouin, Vincent
- Garavan, Hugh
- Gowland, Penny
- Heinz, Andreas
- Ittermann, Bernd
- Nees, Frauke
- Smolka, Michael N.
- Walter, Henrik
- Whelan, Rob
- Martinot, Jean-Luc
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2015-12-01
- Volume
- 172
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1215-1223
- ISSN
- 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
- 1535-7228
- PMC
- PMC7614275
- OpenAlex
- W1938520684
- Cited by
- 322
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 56 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 13.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- GRO (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Eli Lilly and Company
- AstraZeneca
- Fundación Alicia Koplowitz
- Wellcome Trust (093909)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- University of Cambridge
- European Commission (115300)
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-12-SAMA-0004)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH085772)
- Cilag
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- adolescent depression, reward anticipation, ventral striatum, anhedonia, depressive mood, subthreshold depression, BOLD signal, positive valence systems, Research Domain Criteria
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Affect, Brain Mapping, Depression, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Reward, Anhedonia, Functional Neuroimaging, Ventral Striatum
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