Reward Processing and Risk for Depression Across Development

Abstract

Striatal response to reward has been of great interest in the typical development and psychopathology literatures. These parallel lines of inquiry demonstrate that although typically developing adolescents show robust striatal response to reward, adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) and those at high risk for MDD show a blunted response to reward. Understanding how these findings intersect is crucial for the development and application of early preventative interventions in at-risk children, ideally before the sharp increase in the rate of MDD onset that occurs in adolescence. Robust findings relating blunted striatal response to reward and MDD risk are reviewed and situated within a normative developmental context. We highlight the need for future studies investigating longitudinal development, specificity to MDD, and roles of potential moderators and mediators.

Keywords: depression; development.; reward.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1

MDD Onset, Striatal Response to Reward Receipt, and the Number of Studies Investigating MDD-Risk and Reward Response All Increase During Adolescence A – Red dotted line indicates the cumulative age of onset for individuals with Unipolar Depression (i.e. with Major Depressive Episode (MDE) but without Manic Episodes (ME)), onset of MDEs begins to sharply increase around age 12–15, HE=Hypomania. Reprinted from Bipolar Disorders, 11/6, Beesdo, K., Hofler, M., Leibenluft, E., Lieb, R. Bauer, M., Pfennig, A., Mood episodes and mood disorders: patterns of incidence and conversion in the first three decades of life, 637–49, Copyright (2009), with permission from Wiley [22]. B – Striatal response to monetary reward versus non-reward shows a quadratic (i.e. inverted u-shape) relationship with age from childhood through young adulthood. Peak striatal response is observed around 12 to 15 years of age. Reprinted from Neuroimage, 51/1, Van Leijenhorst, L., Gunther Moor, B., Op de Macks, Z. A., Rombouts, S. A., Westenberg, P. M., Crone, E. A., Adolescent risky decision-making: neurocognitive development of reward and control regions, 345–55, Copyright (2010), with permission from Elsevier [34]. C – Ages of participants in reviewed MDD-risk and reward neuroimaging studies (circle = mean age; whiskers = min/max ages). The majority of participant groups in MDD-risk and reward studies have a mean age between 12 and 15 years. LR=Low-Risk, HR=High-Risk, solid line studies report striatal blunting to reward feedback in HR groups.