Effort deficits and depression: The influence of anhedonic depressive symptoms on cardiac autonomic activity during a mental challenge

Abstract

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 DASS Depression 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.

Psychopathology, everyday behaviors, and autonomic activity in daily life: An ambulatory impedance cardiography study of depression, anxiety, and hypomanic traits

“…RZ is an increasingly used measure of contractility that has the virtues of using the salient R and Z points, so it might be especially suitable for ambulatory recordings (van Lien et al, 2013). RZ has been comparable to PEP in several recent studies (Harper et al, in press; Silvia et al, 2014a, 2014b; Silvia et al, in press).…”

Creative motivation: Creative achievement predicts cardiac autonomic markers of effort during divergent thinking

“…The data are from a larger study on individual differences and cardiac autonomic markers of effort (see Silvia, Nusbaum, Eddington, Beaty, & Kwapil, in press). Neither the creativity task nor the measures of creative achievement have been analyzed or reported in past work.…”

“…As in our past work (Silvia, Eddington et al, 2013; Silvia, Nusbaum et al, in press), we analyzed the data using multilevel models. These models can simultaneously estimate within-person effects (such as change in PEP from the baseline period to the brick task), between-person effects (such as whether creative achievement has a main effect on PEP), and their interactions (such as whether creative achievement predicts the baseline-to-task change).…”

Effort analysis of gender differences in cardiovascular response: Further evidence involving a traditionally feminine incentive

“…Concerning the challenges, they had a fixed (all-or-none) character and therefore were representative of many, but not all, challenges with which performers might be confronted (Brinkmann & Franzen, 2013;Brinkmann, Schüpbach, Ancel Joye, & Gendolla, 2009;Richter, 2010;Silvia, 2012;Silvia, Nusbaum, Eddington, Beaty, & Kwapil, 2014). Alternatively, performers can be confronted with unfixed (piecemeal) challenges that allow them to accrue different benefits by performing at different levels (Brehm & Self, 1989;Locke & Latham, 1990).…”