Psychophysiology, 2022, 59(S1):S126-S127. [Presented at the 62^nd Virtual Annual Meeting of the Society of Psychophysiological Research (SPR), September 28 - October 2, 2022.]

Feedback negativity and feedback-related P3 during the monetary incentive delay task in individuals at high and low family risk for depression

Yifan Gao¹, Lidia Panier¹, Marc Gameroff^1,2, Randy Auerbach^1,2, Jonathan Posner^1,2, Myrna Weissman^1,2, Jürgen Kayser^1,2

¹New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA; ²Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Abstract

Blunted responses to reward feedback have been linked to major depression (MDD) and MDD risk. To explore the impact of family risk and lifetime history of MDD (+ vs -), we recorded 72-channel ERPs from 29 high and 32 low risk (HR/LR) individuals (15–58 years, 30 male) during a monetary incentive delay task with win, loss or neutral outcomes. Linked-mastoids ERPs and their reference-free current source density (CSD) transforms were quantified by temporal principal components analysis, revealing two distinct stages of reward feedback processing: feedback negativity (FN) peaking at ~310 ms (mid-anterior) and P3 (fb-P3, ~380 ms, mid-posterior). Whereas ERP components were highly consistent with prior findings, their CSD counterparts had more focal topographies. All subgroups showed: 1) greater FN to loss than win and neutral trials, suggesting FN sensitivity to negative valence; 2) greater fb-P3 to win and loss than neutral trials, suggesting fb-P3 indexes motivational salience and allocation of attention. Group × condition interactions were more subtle and dependent on transformation (ERP vs CSD). For example, for fb-P3, ERPs were greater for HR than LR for win and loss but not neutral (no MDD effects), whereas CSDs were greater for MDD- than MDD+ for win and neutral but not loss (no risk effects). These findings collectively suggest largely comparable feedback processing in individuals at low and high risk for MDD and with or without a history of MDD, however, methodological aspects are of critical importance for uncovering subtle group differences of reward processing.

Key Words: event-related potentials (ERPs), reward processing, depression risk

[Supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health (MH036197)].

doi:10.1111/psyp.14141