Rui-Ting Zhang1, Zhuo-Ya Yang1, Yong-Ming Wang2, Yi Wang3, Tian-Xiao Yang1, Eric F C Cheung4, Elizabeth A Martin5, Raymond C K Chan6. 1. Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China. 2. Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China; Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 380 Huaibeizhuang, Huairou District, Beijing, 101407, China; Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research, 380 Huaibei Zhuang, Huairou District, Beijing, 101407, China. 3. Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, 100101, China. 4. Castle Peak Hospital, 15 Tsing Chung Koon Road, Tuen Mun, N.T, Hong Kong, China. 5. Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Irvine, CA, USA. 6. Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China; Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 380 Huaibeizhuang, Huairou District, Beijing, 101407, China. Electronic address: rckchan@psych.ac.cn.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Affective forecasting, or the ability to forecast emotional responses to future events, is essential to everyday life adaption. Previous research suggests that individuals with social anhedonia exhibit deficits in affective forecasting, but the pattern of these deficits and their neural correlates are not known. METHODS: Individuals with social anhedonia (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 46) completed a social affective forecasting task and underwent resting-state fMRI scanning. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, social anhedonia individuals anticipated reduced pleasure especially in social conditions and their prospection contained less visualization, voice, taste, self-referential thoughts, other-referential thoughts and language communication. Moreover, anticipated pleasure (valence and arousal for positive events) was positively associated with effort level, especially in social conditions. The social anhedonia group also exhibited stronger functional connectivity between the retrosplenial cortex and the insula and reduced functional connectivity between the hippocampal formation and the parahippocampus. These altered functional connectivities were correlated with anticipated valence in social, but not non-social, conditions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that individuals with social anhedonia anticipate less pleasure predominately in social conditions and impaired prospection may contribute to the reduced anticipated pleasure. Reduced anticipated pleasure may be a target to improve social motivation in social anhedonia individuals.
BACKGROUND: Affective forecasting, or the ability to forecast emotional responses to future events, is essential to everyday life adaption. Previous research suggests that individuals with social anhedonia exhibit deficits in affective forecasting, but the pattern of these deficits and their neural correlates are not known. METHODS: Individuals with social anhedonia (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 46) completed a social affective forecasting task and underwent resting-state fMRI scanning. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, social anhedonia individuals anticipated reduced pleasure especially in social conditions and their prospection contained less visualization, voice, taste, self-referential thoughts, other-referential thoughts and language communication. Moreover, anticipated pleasure (valence and arousal for positive events) was positively associated with effort level, especially in social conditions. The social anhedonia group also exhibited stronger functional connectivity between the retrosplenial cortex and the insula and reduced functional connectivity between the hippocampal formation and the parahippocampus. These altered functional connectivities were correlated with anticipated valence in social, but not non-social, conditions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that individuals with social anhedonia anticipate less pleasure predominately in social conditions and impaired prospection may contribute to the reduced anticipated pleasure. Reduced anticipated pleasure may be a target to improve social motivation in social anhedonia individuals.
Authors: Christian A Webb; Elana S Israel; Emily Belleau; Lindsay Appleman; Erika E Forbes; Diego A Pizzagalli Journal: J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry Date: 2020-06-15 Impact factor: 13.113