Reward-Based Decision-Making in Depression or At-Risk Population

Abstract

This paper discussed the recent studies on the behavioral and neural patterns of individuals with depression and those with familial risk in reward-based decision-making. Current theories for depression and reward-based decision-making were presented so that they can pave the way for investigation of the interaction between the two under scrutiny. The paper argues that depression influences individuals’ aspects of reward-based decision-making, including thinking strategies, flexibility, reward perceptions, and motivation. At-risk populations inherited the same patterns. According to the empirical studies from recent years, results mainly support the argument. Both clinical and at-risk groups have conservative thinking strategies, inflexibility in demanding situations, and lower perceived reward salience. Furthermore, at-risk populations can obtain the same reward amount even though their neural signals indicate a diminishing reward salience. Future studies, such as longitudinal studies to scrutinize the effect of depression on clinical and at-risk populations, should seek insight into the long-term impact. Moreover, in the future, more studies should investigate the critical period for at-risk populations adopting inflexible thinking patterns so that clinicians can prevent depression in time.