PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide and a critical public health problem.
Of particular concern are the high rates of MDD during adolescence, which have continued to increase in recent
years. Importantly, the emergence of depression during adolescence is associated with future major depressive
episodes in adulthood and risk for suicide. Theorists have proposed that the spike in rates of depression
observed during adolescence may be due, at least in part, to neurobiological and psychosocial changes that
occur during this period, including changes in reward processing. Importantly, aberrant neural reward processing
in adolescents is associated with current depressive symptoms and predicts the onset of future depressive
episodes. However, most of this research has focused on adolescents’ neural responses to monetary reward,
despite research showing that social rewards are especially salient for this age group. Further, a large majority
of this research is confined to laboratory settings and relatively little is known about how laboratory-based
measures of reward processing translate to real-world experiences of pleasure and affect. This proposed study
aims to address the limitations of extant research by examining event related potential (ERP) indices of social
and monetary reward processing in adolescents at heightened risk of developing MDD (maternal history of
MDD). After completing the laboratory-based reward tasks, adolescents will complete 7 days of ecological
momentary assessment (EMA) surveys to assess real-world levels of pleasure and affect in their daily lives.
Specific Aim 1 is to determine whether laboratory-based measures of reward outcome processing predict real-
world levels of consummatory pleasure and affect among adolescents at risk for MDD. Specific Aim 2 is to
evaluate whether monetary or social reward processing is a stronger predictor of real-world reports of pleasure
and daily affect. In addressing these aims, I also seek to address another limitation of existing research.
Specifically, the overwhelming majority of ERP reward processing research focuses on the reward positivity
(RewP), which only indexes one subcomponent of reward outcome processing even though other substages
can be reliably assessed with ERPs (e.g., feedback-P3 and feedback-LPP). Therefore, although primary
analyses will focus on the RewP to be consistent with prior research, exploratory analyses will examine whether
the predictive validity of the feedback-P3 and feedback-LPP. These research aims are complemented by a series
of training goals designed to facilitate the applicant’s development into an independent researcher. These
training goals are to (i) gain expertise in collecting and processing EEG/ERP data using reward paradigms, (ii)
develop specialized skills in designing, collecting, and processing reward-relevant EMA data in adolescents, and
(iii) strengthening the applicant’s knowledge of intensive longitudinal data analysis. This project has the potential
to make significant contributions to the literature on biomarkers of depression risk and will provide the training
necessary for the applicant to become an independent researcher focused on risk for depression in adolescents.
