Emotional and cognitive dysregulation in schizophrenia and depression: understanding common and distinct behavioral and neural mechanisms

Abstract

Emerging behavioral and neuroimaging studies in schizophrenia (SCZ) and major depressive disorder (MD) are mapping mechanisms of co-occurring and distinct affective disturbances across these disorders. This constitutes a critical goal towards developing rationally guided therapies for upstream neural pathways that contribute to comorbid symptoms across disorders. We highlight the current state of the art in our understanding of emotional dysregulation in SCZ versus MD by focusing on broad domains of behavioral function that can map onto underlying neural systems, namely deficits in hedonics, anticipatory behaviors, computations underlying value and effort, and effortful goal-directed behaviors needed to pursue rewarding outcomes. We highlight unique disturbances in each disorder that may involve dissociable neural systems, but also possible interactions between affect and cognition in MD versus SCZ. Finally, we review computational and translational approaches that offer mechanistic insight into how cellular-level disruptions can lead to complex affective disturbances, informing development of therapies across MD and SCZ.