S141. REWARD PROCESSING IN CHILDREN WITH PSYCHOTIC-LIKE EXPERIENCES

Abstract

BackgroundIndividuals with psychosis display an attenuated response to reward. However, it has not yet been established whether individuals with psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) also exhibit alterations in reward anticipation.MethodsThe present study examined whether non-distressing and distressing PLEs were associated with functional activity in the nucleus accumbens during reward anticipation. The sample consisted of 10313 children from the ABCD study aged 9–10 who had participated in the Monetary Incentive Delay task. PLEs were measured using the Prodromal Questionnaire Brief Child version and functional activity was measured using regional fMRI summary statistics for reward anticipation activation (data release 2.0, contrast of expected large reward versus neutral expectation). Linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate the relationship between reward anticipation and PLEs (distressing and non-distressing), whilst controlling for gender, household income, ethnicity, BMI and affective symptoms. The analyses were weighted by the average standard error of the mean activation in the accumbens. Separate linear mixed-effects models were conducted for the right and left hemisphere.Results6169 (59.8%) of the children did not report any PLEs, compared to 2270 (22.0%) with non-distressing PLEs and 1874 (18.2%) with distressing PLEs. We ran a regression to examine the association between reward anticipation and PLEs (distressing or non-distressing) and found that non-distressing PLEs were related to reduced reward anticipation in the right nucleus accumbens (P = 0.009). However, there was no significant association between reward anticipation and PLEs when adjusting for potential confounders.DiscussionIn the present study of 9–10 year olds, reward anticipation was not associated with PLEs. As previous research has found reductions in reward anticipation in individuals with schizophrenia, further follow-up studies of the ABCD cohort are needed to explore whether these associations emerge during adolescence.