Increased social anhedonia and reduced helping behaviour in young people with high depressive symptomatology

Setterfield, Megan; Walsh, Mallory; Frey, Anna-Lena; McCabe, Ciara

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.020

Cited by 39 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Parameter estimates for the (a) social (Q16) and (b) non-social (Q5) condition for participants with high (HD) and low (LD) depressive symptomatology; α, learning rate; ω, memory decay; d, outcome valuation; τ; explore-exploit/temperature; w, choice bias. to others than controls (reviewed in Segrin, 2000;Rottenberg and Gotlib, 2004; see also Setterfield et al, 2016). Importantly, inappropriate social behavior has been shown to elicit fewer positive responses to, and even rejection of, depressed subjects by their interlocutors (Segrin and Abramson, 1994).…”

Section: Psychological Medicinementioning

confidence: 99%

Social reinforcement learning as a predictor of real-life experiences in individuals with high and low depressive symptomatology

2019

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Background Several studies have reported diminished learning from non-social outcomes in depressed individuals. However, it is not clear how depression impacts learning from social feedback. Notably, mood disorders are commonly associated with deficits in social functioning, which raises the possibility that potential impairments in social learning may negatively affect real-life social experiences in depressed subjects. Methods Ninety-two participants with high (HD; N = 40) and low (LD; N = 52) depression scores were recruited. Subjects performed a learning task, during which they received monetary outcomes or social feedback which they were told came from other people. Additionally, participants answered questions about their everyday social experiences. Computational models were fit to the data and model parameters were related to social experience measures. Results HD subjects reported a reduced quality and quantity of social experiences compared to LD controls, including an increase in the amount of time spent in negative social situations. Moreover, HD participants showed lower learning rates than LD subjects in the social condition of the task. Interestingly, across all participants, reduced social learning rates predicted higher amounts of time spent in negative social situations, even when depression scores were controlled for. Conclusion These findings indicate that deficits in social learning may affect the quality of everyday social experiences. Specifically, the impaired ability to use social feedback to appropriately update future actions, which was observed in HD subjects, may lead to suboptimal interpersonal behavior in real life. This, in turn, may evoke negative feedback from others, thus bringing about more unpleasant social encounters.

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Section: Psychological Medicinementioning

confidence: 99%

Social reinforcement learning as a predictor of real-life experiences in individuals with high and low depressive symptomatology

2019

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“…SA is present in both nonclinical and clinical populations. The expression of SA in psychiatric disorders (Blanchard, Horan, & Brown, ; Fortunati et al, ) and the general population (Healey, Morgan, Musselman, Olino, & Forbes, ; Setterfield, Walsh, Frey, & McCabe, ) has relevance for social outcomes, including levels of social functioning. Given the key role for social support in maintaining well‐being, it is imperative that factors which impinge on social functioning are fully understood.…”

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confidence: 99%

Social anhedonia and social functioning: Loneliness as a mediator

2020

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Social anhedonia is associated with reduced social functioning and diminished reward from social interactions. Individuals expressing social anhedonia are likely to experience reduced social connectedness and feel lonely. Loneliness is also associated with reduced social functioning. Therefore, loneliness could account for the relationship between social anhedonia and social functioning. We aimed to determine whether loneliness mediates the relationship between social anhedonia and reduced social functioning. In total, 824 young adults (M age = 21.03, SD = 5.59; 72.3% female) completed the Revised-Social Anhedonia Scale (RSAS), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, and the Social Functioning Scale (SFS). Scores on thee SFS were summed into six subscales: Social Withdrawal, Relationships, Social Activities, Recreational Activities, Independence (Competence), and Independence (Performance). Negative affect (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 [DASS] total score) was included as a covariate. Both the RSAS and the UCLA Loneliness Scale were negatively correlated with overall and all social functioning subscales. The DASS-21 positively correlated with all variables of interest. Mediation analyses revealed that loneliness partially mediated the relationship between social anhedonia and the social functioning subscales, with the exception of Recreational Activities. However, loneliness was a full mediator for the relationship between social anhedonia and overall social functioning. The study findings suggest that targeting loneliness in interventions may be important for improving various aspects of social functioning in those individuals who express social anhedonia.

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“…to others than controls (reviewed in Segrin, 2000;Rottenberg and Gotlib, 2004; see also Setterfield et al, 2016). Importantly, inappropriate social behavior has been shown to elicit fewer positive responses to, and even rejection of, depressed subjects by their interlocutors (Segrin and Abramson, 1994).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Reinforcement Learning as a Predictor of Real-Life Experiences in Individuals with High and Low Depressive Symptomatology

Frey¹,

Frank²,

McCabe³

2019

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Background: Several studies have reported diminished learning from non-social outcomes in depressed individuals. However, it is not clear how depression impacts learning from social feedback. Notably, mood disorders are commonly associated with deficits in social functioning, which raises the possibility that potential impairments in social learning may negatively affect real-life social experiences in depressed subjects. Methods: Ninety-two participants with high (HD; N=40) and low (LD; N=52) depression scores were recruited. Subjects performed a learning task, during which they received monetary outcomes or social feedback that they were told came from other people. Additionally, participants answered questions about their everyday social experiences. Computational modelling was used to analyze the data and model parameters were related to social experience measures.Results: HD subjects reported a reduced quality and quantity of social experiences compared to LD controls, including an increase in the amount of time spent in negative social situations. Moreover, HD participants showed lower learning rates than LD subjects in the social condition of the task. Interestingly, across all participants, reduced social learning rates predicted higher amounts of time spent in negative social situations, even when depression scores were controlled for. Conclusion: These findings indicate that deficits in social learning may affect the quality of everyday social experiences. Specifically, the impaired ability to use social feedback to appropriately update future actions, which was observed in HD subjects, may lead to suboptimal interpersonal behavior in real life. This, in turn, may evoke negative feedback from others, thus bringing about more unpleasant social encounters.

show abstract

Increased social anhedonia and reduced helping behaviour in young people with high depressive symptomatology

Cited by 39 publications

References 29 publications

Social reinforcement learning as a predictor of real-life experiences in individuals with high and low depressive symptomatology

Social reinforcement learning as a predictor of real-life experiences in individuals with high and low depressive symptomatology

Social anhedonia and social functioning: Loneliness as a mediator

Social Reinforcement Learning as a Predictor of Real-Life Experiences in Individuals with High and Low Depressive Symptomatology

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