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Approach and avoidance learning in patients with major depression and healthy controls: relation to anhedonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2009

H. W. Chase ,
M. J. Frank ,
A. Michael ,
E. T. Bullmore ,
B. J. Sahakian  and
T. W. Robbins
H. W. Chase*
Affiliation:
Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, UK Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK
M. J. Frank
Affiliation:
Departments of Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences, Psychology, and Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, RI, USA
A. Michael
Affiliation:
West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds, UK
E. T. Bullmore
Affiliation:
Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, UK Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge, Department of Psychiatry, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
B. J. Sahakian
Affiliation:
Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, UK Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
T. W. Robbins
Affiliation:
Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, UK Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr H. W. Chase, School of Psychology, University Park, University of Nottingham, NottinghamNG7 2RD, UK. (Email: henry.chase@nottingham.ac.uk)
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Abstract

Background

Central to understanding of the behavioural consequences of depression has been the theory that the disorder is accompanied by an increased sensitivity to negative compared with positive reinforcement (negative bias), whereas other theorists have emphasized a global reduction in sensitivity to reinforcement in depression (blunting).

Method

In this study, we used a probabilistic selection task that was designed to examine independently rates of learning to predict both positive and negative reinforcement. Twenty-three depressed out-patients and 23 healthy controls from the local population participated in the study.

Results

No evidence for a negative bias was observed on the task, either during acquisition of the task or during generalization of the learned information. Depressed patients responded slower on the task than controls but showed a similar modulation of reaction times (RTs) as controls following reinforcement. Evidence for blunting was observed on the training phase, as reflected in reduced trial-by-trial adjustment during this phase. However, this effect was related specifically to the severity of anhedonia, as measured by the Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), and was independent of overall depression severity.

Conclusions

We argue that the observation of a negative bias or blunting in a group of depressed patients may be dependent on the neuropsychological task and the symptoms of the patients tested. Our results provide insight into how these theories might be further tested.

Keywords

Anhedoniaassociativedepressionreinforcement learning
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , March 2010 , pp. 433 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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