Low Reward Sensitivity Research Articles

Do reward and punishment sensitivity change after treatment for anorexia nervosa?

An important question in eating disorders (EDs) is why people continue to pursue the perceived benefits of the illness in spite of devastating physical, psychological and social consequences. In investigating this, previous studies have highlighted a profile of low reward and high punishment sensitivity in anorexia nervosa. Treatments have attempted to target this presentation in therapy although little is known about whether it is possible to do so, thus helping individuals to use more flexible, adaptive and less anxiety-driven responses to their own internal and external environments. In this longitudinal study, 77 outpatients receiving psychological treatment (mean age=26.6; SD=7.90) completed the Carver and White (1994) BIS/BAS Scales before and after treatment. There was a small-sized reduction in BIS anxiety (d=0.33) after, compared to before treatment. There were no main effects of illness duration, nor treatment dosage (number of sessions attended) on reward and punishment sensitivity after, compared to before treatment. Future work could explore whether small reductions in anxiety may predict long-term recovery, given mood difficulties are a key maintaining factor in contemporary models of EDs.

Pathways to social anxiety: The role of reinforcement sensitivities and emotion regulation

Past research has demonstrated a strong relationship between threat sensitivity and social anxiety; however, the relationship between reward sensitivity and social anxiety is less clear. Further, the role that emotion regulation (ER) may play in the expression of social anxiety disorder (SAD) is rarely considered. The current study tested whether two emotion regulation strategies (emotional suppression and cognitive reappraisal) mediated associations between threat sensitivity and reward sensitivity and social anxiety in a community sample (402 adults, 78% female; Mage=32.49, S.D.age=11.53). Path analyses indicated that low reappraisal mediated the relationship between high threat sensitivity and high social anxiety; and both low reappraisal and high suppression mediated the relationship between low reward sensitivity and high social anxiety. These results highlight the potential role that emotion regulation plays in the relationship between trait motivation and social anxiety.

Osmotic release oral system-methylphenidate improves neural activity during low reward processing in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is neurobehavioral disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity and impaired reward system function, such as delay aversion and low reward sensitivity. The pharmacological treatment for ADHD includes methylphenidate (MPH), or osmotic release oral system-MPH (OROS-MPH), which increases extrasynaptic dopamine and noradrenaline levels by blocking their reuptake. Although previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies revealed that acute treatment with MPH alters activation of the nucleus accumbens during delay aversion in children and adolescents with ADHD, the effects a relatively long period of OROS-MPH treatment on delay aversion as well as reward sensitivity remain unclear. Thus, we evaluated brain activation with fMRI during a reward sensitivity paradigm that consists of high monetary reward and low monetary reward conditions before and after a 3-month treatment with OROS-MPH in 17 children and adolescents with ADHD (mean age, 13.3 ± 2.2) and 17 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (mean age, 13.0 ± 1.9). We found that before treatment there was decreased activation of the nucleus accumbens and thalamus in patients with ADHD during only the low monetary reward condition, which was improved to same level as those of the healthy controls after the treatment. The observed change in brain activity was associated with improved ADHD symptom scores, which were derived from Japanese versions of the ADHD rating scale-IV. These results suggest that treatment with OROS-MPH for a relatively long period is effective in controlling reward sensitivity in children and adolescents with ADHD.

Blunted neural response to rewards prospectively predicts depression in adolescent girls

The prevalence of depression increases substantially during adolescence. Several predictors of major depressive disorder have been established, but their predictive power is limited. In the current study, the feedback negativity (FN), an event-related potential component elicited by feedback indicating monetary gain versus loss, was recorded in 68 never-depressed adolescent girls. Over the following 2 years, 24% of participants developed a major depressive episode (MDE); illness onset was predicted by blunted FN at initial evaluation. Lower FN amplitude predicted more depressive symptoms during the follow-up period, even after controlling for neuroticism and depressive symptoms at baseline. This is the first prospective study to demonstrate a link between a neural measure of reward sensitivity and the first onset of an MDE. The current results suggest that low reward sensitivity may be an important factor in the development of depression.

The role of reward sensitivity in successful weight maintenance in non-obese young women

Trait sensitivity to rewards may predict risk of unhealthy behaviours, including overeating, binge eating and obesity. We investigated associations between weight maintenance in young women, and measures of reward sensitivity, both general and food-related, and of response bias. We hypothesised that successful weight maintenance would be associated with lower reward sensitivity, less responsiveness to food reward and less positive response bias. Sixty-four non-obese (mean BMI = 22.5) women, aged 18–35 years, took part in a survey of dieting and weight history as well as completing questionnaires on eating behaviour (TFEQ-R18 v2; Power of Food Scale (PFS); Food Craving Questionnaire (FCQ)) and reward/punishment sensitivity (SPSRQ). They also completed a computer-based trial-and-error learning task that generates a response bias coefficient (RBC) indicating the extent to which participants are biased towards positive reinforcement (A. McNamara, University of Surrey). From the survey on dieting and weight history, 10 items were selected to form a ‘successful weight maintenance’ scale, after standardising scores for each item. Associations between this measure and the others were examined by Spearman’s correlations. Successful weight maintenance was negatively correlated with BMI ( ρ = − 0.64), reward sensitivity ( ρ = − 0.48) (not to punishment), RBC ( ρ = − 0.28), all 3 PFS subscales ( ρ = − 0.40 to ρ = − 0.50), all trait subscales of the FCQ except ‘anticipation’ (positive and negative) and ‘negative affect’: similarly, restrained and uncontrolled eating were negatively related ( ρ = − 0.47 and − 0.52, respectively), but not emotional eating. In young women, successful weight maintenance may depend on resistance to positive reinforcement.

Effects of depression on reward-based decision making and variability of action in probabilistic learning

Background and objectivesDepression is characterized by low reward sensitivity in behavioral studies applying signal detection theory. We examined deficits in reward-based decision making in depressed participants during a probabilistic learning task, and used a reinforcement learning model to examine learning parameters during the task. MethodsThirty-six nonclinical undergraduates completed a probabilistic selection task. Participants were divided into depressed and non-depressed groups based on Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression (CES-D) cut scores. We then applied a reinforcement learning model to every participant's behavioral data. ResultsDepressed participants showed a reward-based decision making deficit and higher levels of the learning parameter τ, which modulates variability of action selection, as compared to non-depressed participants. Highly variable action selection is more random and characterized by difficulties with selecting a specific course of action. ConclusionThese results suggest that depression is characterized by deficits in reward-based decision making as well as high variability in terms of action selection.

Predicting Cigarette-Seeking Behavior: How Reward Sensitivity and Positive Emotions Influence Nicotine Cravings

Reward sensitivity is a primary indicator of impulsive behavior, such as cigarette smoking, and contributes to positive emotional experiences. The aim in this study was to examine smokers' emotional experiences and cravings in relation to their personality traits. Participants were divided into high- and low-reward sensitivity groups, and a procedure aimed at inducing emotions was conducted while physiological responses were recorded. There was a significant difference in the subjective experiences of the 2 groups, and a significant positive correlation existed between a positive emotional experience and craving cigarettes. Furthermore, reward sensitivity induced craving in smokers and the relationship was mediated by positive emotion. We believe that the identified mediating effect of positive emotions on craving could provide a better understanding of maladaptive behavior associated with positive emotion and may play an important role in treatment of nicotine dependence.

Approach and avoidance motivation in eating disorders

It has been proposed that approach and avoidance processes may be critically involved in the development and maintenance of eating disorders (EDs), including anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). The Behavioural Inhibition System and Behavioural Activation System Scales (BIS/BAS) and Appetitive Motivation Scale (AMS) questionnaires were administered to 286 participants: 91 healthy controls (HCs), 121 participants with a current ED, either AN (restrictive and binge purge subtypes), or BN and 74 participants recovered from an ED. Individuals with EDs had higher levels of sensitivity to punishment and lower levels of reward reactivity than controls. Individuals in recovery from an ED scored the same as those in the acute group, with the exception of BAS fun seeking, for which they scored significantly higher than those with restricting AN. Discriminant analysis revealed that HCs were maximally separated from those in the acute and recovered ED groups along a dimension reflecting high punishment sensitivity and low reward sensitivity. Classification analysis demonstrated that ED and HC group membership was predicted from reward and punishment sensitivity measures; however recovered participants tended to be misclassified as ED. This study suggests high punishment sensitivity and low reward reactivity/sensitivity might form a personality cluster associated with the risk of developing an ED.

Psychobiological traits in the risk profile for overeating and weight gain

Our dramatically changed food environment--since periods in our history when food sources were highly constrained--has presented new challenges for obesity research. For example, these alterations have strongly emphasized the physiological differences between the homeostatic and the hedonic regulation of food intake--the latter being largely responsible for the pronounced increase in obesity in the past few decades. There is also increasing agreement that compulsive overeating shares many parallels with addiction disorders such as drug abuse. These factors have also fostered a renewed interest in identifying individual differences in personality and motivational systems that increase the risk for overeating and weight gain in our population. Reward sensitivity has been the focus of a recent body of compelling research, with evidence favoring two seemingly opposite points of view. On the one hand, studies have found support for a link between low reward sensitivity and obesity, whereas other evidence suggests that a strong appetitive motivation leads to overeating and weight gain. Arguments are provided to reconcile these apparently disparate theories. Finally, the role of impulsivity and its links with symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder are discussed, as well as their respective roles in the risk profile for obesity.

Serotonergic function, two-mode models of self-regulation, and vulnerability to depression: What depression has in common with impulsive aggression.

Evidence from diverse literatures supports the viewpoint that two modes of self-regulation exist, a lower-order system that responds quickly to associative cues of the moment and a higher-order system that responds more reflectively and planfully; that low serotonergic function is linked to relative dominance of the lower-order system; that how dominance of the lower-order system is manifested depends on additional variables; and that low serotonergic function therefore can promote behavioral patterns as divergent as impulsive aggression and lethargic depression. Literatures reviewed include work on two-mode models; studies of brain function supporting the biological plausibility of the two-mode view and the involvement of serotonergic pathways in functions pertaining to it; and studies relating low serotonergic function to impulsiveness, aggression (including extreme violence), aspects of personality, and depression vulnerability. Substantial differences between depression and other phenomena reviewed are interpreted by proposing that depression reflects both low serotonergic function and low reward sensitivity. The article closes with brief consideration of the idea that low serotonergic function relates to even more diverse phenomena, whose natures depend in part on sensitivities of other systems.