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Anhedonia and effort mobilization in dysphoria: reduced cardiovascular response to reward and punishment.
Journal article

Anhedonia and effort mobilization in dysphoria: reduced cardiovascular response to reward and punishment.

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  • 2009-10-08
Published in:
  • International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology. - 2009
Blood Pressure
Depressive Disorder
Female
Heart Rate
Humans
Male
Motivation
Physical Exertion
Pleasure
Punishment
Reward
Young Adult
English Instigated by evidence for reduced responsiveness to reward in depression, the present two studies addressed the question if such anhedonic behavior would also become evident in reduced mobilization of mental effort in terms of cardiovascular reactivity. Undergraduates completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) and worked on mental tasks, expecting either no consequence, a performance-contingent reward, or a performance-contingent punishment. Study 1 revealed that participants with low CES-D scores showed high systolic blood pressure reactivity in the punishment condition, whereas participants with high CES-D scores showed low systolic reactivity. Study 2 corroborated this finding for reward: Nondysphoric participants expecting a reward showed higher reactivity of systolic blood pressure and pre-ejection period than participants in the neutral condition or than dysphoric participants. Together, the studies demonstrate that reward insensitivity in (subclinical) depression is also found in cardiovascular reactivity. Furthermore, dysphoric individuals do not respond to punishment either, suggesting a general insensitivity to hedonic consequences.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/245266
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