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Abnormal reward valuation and event-related connectivity in unmedicated major depressive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2020

S. Rupprechter ,
A. Stankevicius ,
Q. J. M. Huys ,
P. Series  and
J. D. Steele Open the ORCID record for J. D. Steele [Opens in a new window]
S. Rupprechter
Affiliation:
Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
A. Stankevicius
Affiliation:
Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Q. J. M. Huys
Affiliation:
Max Planck Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, UCL, London, UK Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
P. Series
Affiliation:
Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
J. D. Steele*
Affiliation:
Division of Imaging Science and Technology, Medical School, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK Department of Neurology, Ninewells Hospital, NHS Tayside, Dundee, UK
*
Author for correspondence: J. D. Steele, E-mail: dsteele@dundee.ac.uk
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Abstract

Background

Experience of emotion is closely linked to valuation. Mood can be viewed as a bias to experience positive or negative emotions and abnormally biased subjective reward valuation and cognitions are core characteristics of major depression.

Methods

Thirty-four unmedicated subjects with major depressive disorder and controls estimated the probability that fractal stimuli were associated with reward, based on passive observations, so they could subsequently choose the higher of either their estimated fractal value or an explicitly presented reward probability. Using model-based functional magnetic resonance imaging, we estimated each subject's internal value estimation, with psychophysiological interaction analysis used to examine event-related connectivity, testing hypotheses of abnormal reward valuation and cingulate connectivity in depression.

Results

Reward value encoding in the hippocampus and rostral anterior cingulate was abnormal in depression. In addition, abnormal decision-making in depression was associated with increased anterior mid-cingulate activity and a signal in this region encoded the difference between the values of the two options. This localised decision-making and its impairment to the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) consistent with theories of cognitive control. Notably, subjects with depression had significantly decreased event-related connectivity between the aMCC and rostral cingulate regions during decision-making, implying impaired communication between the neural substrates of expected value estimation and decision-making in depression.

Conclusions

Our findings support the theory that abnormal neural reward valuation plays a central role in major depressive disorder (MDD). To the extent that emotion reflects valuation, abnormal valuation could explain abnormal emotional experience in MDD, reflect a core pathophysiological process and be a target of treatment.

Keywords

Decision-makingevent-related connectivitymajor depressive disorderneural valuationunmedicated
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 51 , Issue 5 , April 2021 , pp. 795 - 803
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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