Pupillary response in reward processing in adults with major depressive disorder in remission

Abstract

Objective: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with impaired reward processing and reward learning. The literature is inconclusive regarding whether these impairments persist after remission. The current study examined reward processing during a probabilistic learning task in individuals in remission from MDD (n = 19) and never depressed healthy controls (n = 31) matched for age and sex. The outcome measures were pupil dilation (an indirect index of noradrenergic activity and arousal) and computational modeling parameters. Method: Participants completed two versions (facial/nonfacial feedback) of probabilistic reward learning task with changing contingencies. Pupil dilation was measured with a corneal reflection eye tracker. The hypotheses and analysis plan were preregistered. Result: Healthy controls had larger pupil dilation following losses than gains (p <.001), whereas no significant difference between outcomes was found in individuals with a history of MDD, resulting in an interaction between group and outcome (β = 0.81, SE = 0.34, t = 2.37, p = .018). The rMDD group also achieved lower mean score at the last trial (t[46.77] = 2.12, p = .040) as well as a smaller proportion of correct choices (t[46.70] = 2.09, p = .041) compared with healthy controls. Conclusion: Impaired reward processing may persist after remission from MDD and could constitute a latent risk factor for relapse. Measuring pupil dilation in a reward learning task is a promising method for identifying reward processing abnormalities linked to MDD. The task is simple and noninvasive, which makes it feasible for clinical research.

Value-based decision-making between affective and non-affective memories

“… 29 In adult participants, a similar physiological signature for outcome monitoring that differentiates pupil dilation for negative and positive outcomes was observed in healthy volunteers, but not in individuals with remitted depression. 30 These findings add to earlier 31 and more recent literature which suggests differences in physiological response to affective images, for example viewing emotional faces, in patients with current and remitted depression. 32 Taken together, our results are globally in line with the findings in healthy volunteers reported by these studies, and perhaps suggest that the experimental affective memory probe that we report in this article may have clinical utility in understanding how behavioral and physiological response to affective memories may be impaired by symptoms of depression.…”

Retinal electrophysiology in central nervous system disorders. A review of human and mouse studies

“…The greater use of the ERG and the application of new protocols and analytical methods ( Mahroo, 2023 ) offers the potential to build on previous studies that have identified promising retinal biomarkers in CNS disorders ( Hébert et al, 2015 ; Demmin et al, 2018 ; Almonte et al, 2020 ; Duraković et al, 2020 ; Hébert et al, 2020 ; Silverstein and Thompson, 2020 ; Lee et al, 2022 ; Mohammad-Manjur et al, 2022 ; Silverstein et al, 2022 ; Tursini et al, 2022 ; Schwitzer et al, 2022b ). The combination of ERG functional metrics with other physiological markers such as eye-movements ( Shic et al, 2022 ), pupillary light response ( Guath et al, 2022 ), sleep patterns ( Gross et al, 2022 ) and retinal structural ( Parisi et al, 2001 ; Garcia-Martin et al, 2014 ; Kaur et al, 2015 ; Almonte et al, 2020 ; Duraković et al, 2020; Sen et al, 2020 ; Sarkar et al, 2021 ; Silverstein et al, 2021 , 2022 ; Tran et al, 2022 ) will allow clustering analyses of neurobiological and phenotypic features that may help develop new classification models and a better understanding of disease progress ( Liang et al, 2020 ).…”

A Pilot Study to Improve Cognitive Performance and Pupil Responses in Mild Cognitive Impaired Patients Using Gaze-Controlled Gaming

“…Patients with cognitive disorders typically demonstrate altered pupil responses [ 25 , 26 ] and oculomotor deficits [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Ample evidence shows that modulation in pupil size manifest cognitive processing and likely reflects the functioning of the locus coeruleus [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], which is a key structure in attentional processing.…”