TY - JOUR
T1 - Effort deficits and depression
T2 - The influence of anhedonic depressive symptoms on cardiac autonomic activity during a mental challenge
AU - Silvia, Paul J.
AU - Nusbaum, Emily C.
AU - Eddington, Kari M.
AU - Beaty, Roger E.
AU - Kwapil, Thomas R.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We thank Christina Chai Chang, Emily Galloway, Bryonna Jackson, Kimberly Jung, Edna Kabisa, Lance Moore, Joseph Nardello, Rachel Sopko, and Ceaira Walker for their assistance. This research was supported by award number R15MH079374 from the National Institute of Mental Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2014/11/7
Y1 - 2014/11/7
N2 - Motivational approaches to depression emphasize the role of dysfunctional motivational dynamics, particularly diminished reward and incentive processes associated with anhedonia. A study examined how anhedonic depressive symptoms, measured continuously across a wide range of severity, influenced the physiological mobilization of effort during a cognitive task. Using motivational intensity theory as a guide, we expected that the diminished incentive value associated with anhedonic depressive symptoms would reduce effort during a “do your best” challenge (also known as an unfixed or self-paced challenge), in which effort is a function of the value of achieving the task’s goal. Using impedance cardiography, two cardiac autonomic responses were assessed: pre-ejection period (PEP), a measure of sympathetic activity and our primary measure of interest, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of parasympathetic activity. As expected, PEP slowed from baseline to task as anhedonic depressive symptoms increased (as measured with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale), indicating diminished effort-related sympathetic activity. No significant effects appeared for RSA. The findings support motivational intensity theory as a translational model of effort processes in depression and clarify some inconsistent effects of depressive symptoms on effort-related physiology found in past work.
AB - Motivational approaches to depression emphasize the role of dysfunctional motivational dynamics, particularly diminished reward and incentive processes associated with anhedonia. A study examined how anhedonic depressive symptoms, measured continuously across a wide range of severity, influenced the physiological mobilization of effort during a cognitive task. Using motivational intensity theory as a guide, we expected that the diminished incentive value associated with anhedonic depressive symptoms would reduce effort during a “do your best” challenge (also known as an unfixed or self-paced challenge), in which effort is a function of the value of achieving the task’s goal. Using impedance cardiography, two cardiac autonomic responses were assessed: pre-ejection period (PEP), a measure of sympathetic activity and our primary measure of interest, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of parasympathetic activity. As expected, PEP slowed from baseline to task as anhedonic depressive symptoms increased (as measured with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale), indicating diminished effort-related sympathetic activity. No significant effects appeared for RSA. The findings support motivational intensity theory as a translational model of effort processes in depression and clarify some inconsistent effects of depressive symptoms on effort-related physiology found in past work.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11031-014-9443-0
DO - 10.1007/s11031-014-9443-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84916240304
VL - 38
SP - 779
EP - 789
JO - Motivation and Emotion
JF - Motivation and Emotion
SN - 0146-7239
IS - 6
ER -