Spider-fearful individuals hesitantly approach threat, whereas depressed individuals do not persistently approach reward

Bartoszek, Gregory; Winer, E. Samuel

doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.07.012

Cited by 30 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Using longitudinal methods would allow for temporal associations to be interpreted and potential causal mechanisms to be inferred, whereas the current cross-sectional design is limited in this regard [39]. Moreover, along with examining the EEfRT’s association with self-report measures over time, comparing the EEfRT to other candidate self-report measures and behavioral tasks [40–42] will provide a fuller picture of the relation between low reported positive affect, reward pursuit, and reward devaluation [10]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Struggling toward reward: Recent experience of anhedonia interacts with motivation to predict reward pursuit in the face of a stressful manipulation

et al. 2017

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Anhedonia, or the loss of interest and/or pleasure, is a core symptom of depression. Individuals experiencing anhedonia have difficulty motivating themselves to pursue rewarding stimuli, which can result in dysfunction. Action orientation is a motivational factor that might interact with anhedonia to potentially buffer against this dysfunction, as action-oriented individuals upregulate positive affect to quickly motivate themselves to complete goals in the face of stress. The Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT) is a promising new method for examining differences in motivation in individuals experiencing anhedonia. In the EEfRT, participants choose either easier tasks associated with smaller monetary rewards or harder tasks associated with larger monetary rewards. We examined the relationship between action orientation and EEfRT performance following a negative mood induction in a sample with varying levels of anhedonia. There were two competing hypotheses: (1) action orientation would act as a buffer against anhedonia such that action-oriented individuals, regardless of anhedonic symptoms, would be motivated to pursue greater rewards despite stress, or (2) anhedonia would act as a debilitating factor such that individuals with elevated anhedonic symptoms, regardless of action orientation, would not pursue greater rewards. We examined these hypotheses via Generalized Estimating Equations and found an interaction between anhedonia and action orientation. At low levels of anhedonia, action orientation was associated with effort for reward, but this relationship was not present at high levels of anhedonia. Thus, at low levels of anhedonia, action orientation acted as a buffer against stress, but at high levels, anhedonia debilitated action orientation so that it was no longer a promotive factor.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Struggling toward reward: Recent experience of anhedonia interacts with motivation to predict reward pursuit in the face of a stressful manipulation

et al. 2017

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“…Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) [ 33 ]; fear of spiders: Klein, Becker, & Rinck [ 34 ]; social anxiety [ 35 ]; pathological skin picking [ 36 ]; and addictions [ 37 ], for a recent meta-analysis, see [ 38 ]). Although AAT results in depression are limited and inconsistent, automatic approach-avoidance tendencies are probably important in depression [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. Seidel and colleagues [ 42 ], for example, found that depressed patients showed automatic avoidance in response to angry faces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automatic approach-avoidance tendencies as a candidate intermediate phenotype for depression: Associations with childhood trauma and the 5-HTTLPR transporter polymorphism

et al. 2018

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Depression risk genes in combination with childhood events have been associated with biased processing as an intermediate phenotype for depression. The aim of the present conceptual replication study was to investigate the role of biased automatic approach-avoidance tendencies as a candidate intermediate phenotype for depression, in the context of genes (5-HTTLPR polymorphism) and childhood trauma. A naturalistic remitted depressed patients sample (N = 209) performed an Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) with facial expressions (angry, sad, happy and neutral). Childhood trauma was assessed with a questionnaire. Genotype groups were created based on allele frequency: LaLa versus S/Lg-carriers. The latter is associated with depression risk. We found that remitted S/Lg-carriers who experienced childhood trauma automatically avoided sad facial expressions relatively more than LaLa homozygotes with childhood trauma. Remitted LaLa-carriers who had not experienced childhood trauma, avoided sad faces relatively more than LaLa homozygotes with childhood trauma. We did not find a main effect of childhood trauma, nor differential avoidance of any of the other facial expressions. Although tentative, the results suggest that automatic approach-avoidance tendencies for disorder-congruent materials may be a fitting intermediate phenotype for depression. The specific pattern of tendencies, and the relation to depression, may depend on the genetic risk profile and childhood trauma, but replication is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.

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“…Prior studies using the AAT in specific anxiety disorder or analogue (i.e., elevated symptom) samples found evidence of greater automatic avoidance (or diminished approach) tendencies for anxiety-congruent (negative valence) stimuli relative to non-anxious control participants (social anxiety(Heuer et al, 2007; Roelofs et al, 2010); contamination fears(Najmi et al, 2010); spider fears (Bartoszek and Winer, 2015; Rinck and Becker, 2007); and posttraumatic stress disorder(Fleurkens et al, 2014)). Individuals with elevated social anxiety symptoms also displayed greater automatic avoidance (less approach) for positively valenced social cues(Heuer et al, 2007; Roelofs et al, 2010), a finding consistent with other indices of diminished positive valence system functioning in social anxiety (Alden et al, 2008; Brown et al, 1998; Campbell et al, 2009; Kashdan, 2007; Kashdan et al, 2011; Naragon-Gainey et al, 2009; Taylor et al, 2010, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Individuals with elevated social anxiety symptoms also displayed greater automatic avoidance (less approach) for positively valenced social cues(Heuer et al, 2007; Roelofs et al, 2010), a finding consistent with other indices of diminished positive valence system functioning in social anxiety (Alden et al, 2008; Brown et al, 1998; Campbell et al, 2009; Kashdan, 2007; Kashdan et al, 2011; Naragon-Gainey et al, 2009; Taylor et al, 2010, 2011). Studies in individuals with elevated symptoms of depression found evidence for diminished automatic approach tendencies for positively valenced stimuli (Bartoszek and Winer, 2015; Vrijsen et al, 2013) as well as greater avoidance tendencies for negatively valenced stimuli (e.g., angry faces(Seidel et al, 2010); see, however (Derntl et al, 2011; Radke et al, 2014) for no differences in automatic action tendencies for positive or negative emotional stimuli between depressed and non-depressed control). Taken together, previous studies suggest that the AAT may be a valid measure of relatively automatic approach-avoidance action tendencies for positive and negatively valenced stimuli in anxiety and depression, although linkages to neural circuitries are yet to be investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latent variable analysis of positive and negative valence processing focused on symptom and behavioral units of analysis in mood and anxiety disorders

Paulus

Stein

Craske

et al. 2017

Journal of Affective Disorders

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Background Mood and anxiety disorders are highly heterogeneous and their underlying pathology is complex. The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) approach seeks to establish dimensionally and neuroscience-based descriptions of psychopathology that may inform better classification and treatment approaches. The current investigation sought to determine the latent variables underlying positive and negative valence processing in terms of symptoms and behavioral units of analysis. Method As part of an ongoing study, individuals with mood and anxiety problems were recruited largely from primary care clinics at UCLA (n=62) and UCSD (n=58). These participants underwent a comprehensive symptomatic and behavioral assessment. An implicit approach avoidance task and a modified dot probe detection task were used to measure positive and negative valence processing. Results Principal components analysis with varimax rotation identified four symptom components, three behavioral components for the dot probe task, and two behavioral components for the implicit approach avoidance task. These components yielded two meta-components consisting of: negative valence symptoms, negative approach bias, and high sustained, selective attention; and positive valence symptoms, positive approach bias, and slow selective or sustained attention. The components did not differ between males and females, nor by age or medication status. Limitations The limitations are: (1) relatively small sample, (2) exploratory analysis strategy, (3) no test/re-test data, (4) no neural circuit analysis, and (5) limited reliability of behavioral data. Conclusions These preliminary data show that positive and negative valence processing domains load on independent dimensions. Taken together, multi-level assessment approaches combined with advanced statistical analyses may help to identify distinct positive and negative valence processes within a clinical population that cut across traditional diagnostic categories.

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Spider-fearful individuals hesitantly approach threat, whereas depressed individuals do not persistently approach reward

Cited by 30 publications

References 27 publications

Struggling toward reward: Recent experience of anhedonia interacts with motivation to predict reward pursuit in the face of a stressful manipulation

Struggling toward reward: Recent experience of anhedonia interacts with motivation to predict reward pursuit in the face of a stressful manipulation

Automatic approach-avoidance tendencies as a candidate intermediate phenotype for depression: Associations with childhood trauma and the 5-HTTLPR transporter polymorphism

Latent variable analysis of positive and negative valence processing focused on symptom and behavioral units of analysis in mood and anxiety disorders

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