Major depressive disorder (MDD) among adolescents is recurrent and characterized by persistent emotion-processing biases. Adolescents (N=161; ages 13-18-years-old; remitted MDD=90, healthy controls=71) completed baseline and 6-month clinical assessments. Additionally, at baseline, participants completed the Facial Recognition Task while EEG data were recorded. The late positive potential (LPP) and effective connectivity during negative emotion processing were examined in relation to 6-month depressive symptoms and behavioral withdrawal (homestay from passive GPS). No group differences in LPP emerged. However, remitted MDD showed stronger right precuneus-superior frontal gyrus (theta-alpha) to sad faces and weaker left precuneus-SFG (alpha-beta) to angry faces relative to controls. Greater right precuneus-SFG connectivity during sad faces predicted depressive symptom severity (b=0.221, p=.025) and increased homestay (b=242.78, p=.048). Thus, altered precuneus-SFG connectivity during sad face processing may serve as a neural marker of depression risk, which could support early identification approaches and personalized interventions.

Although prior research has identified abnormal brain connectivity in remitted depressed adolescents, there is limited work associating these alterations with real-time affective dynamics, which may shed insight about specific biological markers that contribute to depression recurrence. Effective brain connectivity was estimated using renormalized partial directed coherence (rPDC) from resting-state EEG data collected in adolescents (N = 144; ages 13-18), including youth with remitted depression (n = 85) and healthy controls (n = 59). Additionally, over the course of 180 days, ~2.3 million messages from adolescents' smartphones were passively obtained, and sentiment (i.e., words connoting positive and negative emotion) was extracted using the Python tweetNLP package. At the baseline and 6-month follow-up assessments, clinical interviews were administered to assess depressive symptom severity. Compared to healthy adolescents, youth with remitted depression exhibited hyperconnectivity in theta and delta frequency bands as well as hypoconnectivity in alpha, beta, and gamma in occipito-temporal regions (ps < 0.05). Across all participants, lower connectivity between the precuneus and middle temporal gyrus within the beta and gamma frequency bands was associated with greater negative sentiment in smartphone-based language (beta: B = -0.019, p = 0.006; gamma: B = -0.180, p = 0.007) but not depressive symptoms (beta: B = 0.073, p = 0.415; gamma: B = 0.093, p = 0.289). Conversely, lower alpha band connectivity from the mid cingulate cortex to the precuneus is associated with greater depressive symptoms at follow-up relative to baseline (B = -0.239, p = 0.013). These findings suggest that resting-state effective connectivity may serve as a neural marker of vulnerability for elevated depressive symptoms and negative affective expression during adolescence, highlighting potentially separable neurophysiological targets that, if replicated, could inform future preventive interventions.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Ambulatory methods are useful tools to study physical and mental health in everyday life. While many studies show daily activity improves mood, the effects of daily light exposure on mood remain unknown. This study evaluated the effects of daily natural light exposure and activity on daily mood and evaluate whether depression moderate effects. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: 82 adults with lifetime major depression disorder (25 current) and 49 healthy controls were recruited from the greater Chicago community (N = 131, 62% female, age M = 30.15, SD = 9.94). At baseline, participants completed the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms to measure depression symptoms of anhedonia, or loss of pleasure. Positive and negative affect were then measured 3x daily for 14-days via self-report using smartphones while light exposure and activity were continuously recorded from a wrist-worn actigraphy device. Following prior studies, daily natural light exposure was measured as the total number of white light samples greater than 1000 lux each day. Multilevel models were used to separate within-person (daily level) from between-person (subject level) effects. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Results revealed daily within-person activity (p < .001) and natural light exposure duration (p = .035) were independently associated with increased positive affect. Effects were significantly moderated by baseline anhedonia symptoms (3-way interaction: p = .004). Natural light exposure duration only increased positive affect on lower activity days for high anhedonia and higher activity days for low anhedonia (ps < .018). Significant results remained controlling for between-person light and activity, time of year, age, sex, negative affect, and baseline general depression symptoms. Compared to one’s own daily averages, daily activity and natural light exposure may be independent pathways to boost positive affect, especially for individuals with high anhedonia symptoms. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Results suggest daily natural light exposure may be an accessible, low-cost alternative to independently increase positive affect in depression on days when activity is low. Translational applications are discussed focusing on transdiagnostic implications for physical and mental health conditions that disrupt mood and limit activity.

Having a depressed first-degree relative is one of the most replicated risk factors for depression. Research on the familial transmission of depression, however, has largely ignored siblings, even though sibling relationships are commonplace and characterized by frequent and intense emotions. It has been suggested that frequent contacts in close relationships lead to similarities in emotions and cognitions over time, a process underpinned by biobehavioral synchrony. Consequently, to shed light on the neural mechanism underlying familial transmission of depression, the present study tested whether neural similarity in response to reward and loss, indexed by inter-subject correlation (ISC), was associated with major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnosis, depression symptom severity, and relationship quality in sibling pairs. Same-sex, full-sibling pairs (N=108 pairs) with a wide range of depression severity separately completed a monetary reward task during electroencephalography acquisition. The ISC in response to reward and loss feedback was calculated using circular correlation between siblings’ phase angles in delta and theta frequency bands, respectively. Significant sibling ISC to reward and loss was observed, with activity maximal at frontocentral sites. Loss-related theta, but not reward-related delta, ISC was associated with: (a) greater depression risk (both lifetime MDD diagnosis and self-reported symptom severity), but not anxiety, and (b) worse sibling relationship quality during childhood in each sibling. Findings provide initial evidence that similarities in neural responses to loss may be a result of disturbed childhood sibling relationships, which may specifically increase risk for depression during adulthood.

INTRODUCTION:Disruptions in neural responses to reward are implicated in risk for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). It is not clear whether these findings extend to those in remission from AUD and MDD, a critical question as studies of remission can (a) rule out effects due to current symptoms, and (b) can reveal potential trait-like differences. METHODS:Individuals with and without remitted AUD (rAUD) and/or rMDD (rMDD) were drawn from a larger study to create four groups: rAUD (n = 54), rMDD (n = 66), rAUD + rMDD (n = 53), and a community control group (CCG; n = 81). Participants completed a validated monetary reward task during electroencephalogram (EEG). Multilevel models examined group differences in event-related potentials and time-frequency indices of reward and loss responsiveness, namely, reward positivity (RewP), feedback negativity (FN), reward-related delta power, and loss-related theta power. RESULTS:Analyses revealed that the rAUD + rMDD group had significantly higher reward-related delta activity than the three other groups (p-values < 0.01), which did not differ from each other. Sensitivity analyses revealed this relationship fell just above the threshold set for significance after controlling for residual current MDD and AUD symptoms (p =.05). There were no other group differences or significant interactions (p-values > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that individuals with remitted AUD and MDD demonstrate increased sensitivity to rewards compared to individuals with remitted AUD alone, MDD alone, and without AUD or MDD. These findings suggest heightened motivational salience to reward might be an important factor in comorbid AUD and MDD.

Background A relatively understudied but growing body of research indicates that individuals with a history of childhood trauma exhibit altered reward processing in adulthood. Research to date has focused on adversity broadly, with studies typically finding evidence of blunted response to rewards in adults with a history of childhood trauma. Objective Given the role of reward processing in risk for psychopathology and the particularly pathogenic nature of sexual abuse (SA), the present study sought to assess whether adults with a history of severe childhood SA exhibit altered neurophysiological response to rewards. Participants and setting Female adults (N = 105) were included from two study sites that used the same measures of childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ), reward processing (Doors Task), and psychopathology (SCID). Methods Based on participants' CTQ and SCID responses, three groups were created: Severe SA (n = 36), Clinical Match (with comparable lifetime psychopathology but no-to-minimal SA history; n = 35), and Healthy Controls (n = 34). Group differences in RewP amplitude were assessed. Results The Severe SA group exhibited larger reward positivity (RewP) amplitude to monetary rewards than the Clinical Match and Healthy Control groups (partial ƞ2 = 0.06, p = .047). This effect remained after covarying for severity of other forms of childhood trauma. Conclusions Our study found that severe SA in childhood was related to a heightened response to reward in adulthood. Furthermore, this was not attributable to the severity of other forms of early trauma or comorbid psychopathology. Future studies are needed to identify how heightened reward processing following severe childhood SA may be implicated in the onset and course of psychopathology.

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is believed to be a risk factor for psychopathology in youth, however, the mechanisms linking SES and psychopathology are unknown. Directly addressing this gap, this study tests whether SES: (a) relates to brain activity following peer feedback (i.e., acceptance, rejection) and (b) moderates the association between brain activity following peer feedback and experience sampling assessed positive and negative affect.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents are at elevated risk for depression. This risk is especially pronounced among adolescents whose home environment is unsupportive or nonaffirming, as these adolescents may face familial rejection due to their identity. Therefore, it is critical to better understand the mechanisms underlying this risk by probing temporally sensitive associations between negative mood and time spent in potentially hostile home environments. The current study included adolescents (N = 141; 43% SGM; 13-18 years old), oversampled for depression history, who completed clinical interviews assessing lifetime psychiatric history and depression severity as well as self-report measures of social support. Participants also installed an app on their personal smartphones, which assessed their daily mood and geolocation-determined mobility patterns over a 6-month follow-up period. Over the 6-month follow-up period, SGM adolescents reported elevated depression severity and lower daily mood relative to non-SGM youth. Interestingly, SGM adolescents who reported low family support experienced lower daily mood than non-SGM adolescents, particularly on days when they spent more time at home. Current findings reinforce evidence for disparities in depression severity among SGM adolescents and highlight family support as a key factor. Specifically, more time spent in home environments with low family support was associated with worse mood among SGM adolescents. These results underscore the need for clinical interventions to support SGM youth, particularly interventions that focus on familial relationships and social support within the home environment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: Cross-sectional studies have identified linguistic correlates of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in smartphone communication. However, it is unclear whether monitoring these linguistic characteristics can detect when an individual is experiencing MDD, which would facilitate timely intervention. Methods: Approximately, 1.2 million messages typed into smartphone social communication apps (e.g., texting, social media) were passively collected from 90 adolescents with a range of depression severity over a 12-month period. Sentiment (i.e., positive versus negative valence of text), proportions of first-person singular pronouns (e.g., ‘I’), and proportions of absolutist words (e.g., ‘all’) were computed for each message and converted to weekly aggregates temporally aligned with weekly MDD statuses obtained from retrospective interviews. Idiographic, multilevel logistic regression models tested whether within-person deviations in these linguistic features were associated with the probability of concurrently meeting threshold for MDD.Results: Using more first-person singular pronouns in smartphone communication relative to one’s own average was associated with higher odds of meeting threshold for MDD in the concurrent week (OR=1.29; p=.007). Sentiment (OR=1.07; p=.54) and use of absolutist words (OR=0.99; p=.90) were not related to weekly MDD. Conclusions: Passively monitoring use of first-person singular pronouns in adolescents’ smartphone communication may help detect MDD, providing novel opportunities for early intervention.

Depression is associated with decreased activity levels that significantly interfere with daily functioning. Daily light exposure is one indicator of activity levels that may also improve depressed mood. Moreover, different types of light may have distinct effects on mood, with white light having positive effects on mood and blue light having opposing effects. The current study is a preliminary investigation into the effects of daily white and blue light exposure on daily mood.

Abuse and neglect have detrimental consequences on emotional and cognitive functioning during childhood and adolescence, including error monitoring, which is a critical aspect of cognition that has been implicated in certain internalizing and externalizing psychopathologies. It is unclear, however, whether (a) childhood trauma has effects on error monitoring and, furthermore whether, (b) error monitoring mediates the relation between childhood trauma and psychopathology in adulthood. To this end, in a large sample of young adults (ages 18–30) who were oversampled for psychopathology ( N = 390), the present study assessed relations between childhood trauma and error-related negativity (ERN), which is a widely used neurophysiological indicator of error monitoring. Cumulative childhood trauma predicted ERN blunting, as did two specific types of traumas: sexual abuse and emotional neglect. Furthermore, the ERN partially mediated the effects of cumulative childhood trauma and emotional neglect on externalizing-related symptoms. Future studies should further examine the relations between childhood trauma and error monitoring in adulthood, which can help to inform intervention approaches.

Identifying risk markers for major depressive disorder (MDD) that persist into remission is key to address MDD’s high rate of recurrence. Central to MDD recurrence are the disorder’s negative information processing biases, such as heightened responses to errors, which may subsequently impair abilities to monitor performance and adjust behaviors based on environmental demands. However, little is known regarding the neurophysiological correlates of post-error adaptation in depression. The current study investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral performance following errors from a flanker task in 58 participants with remitted MDD (rMDD) and 118 healthy controls (HC). Specifically, using trial-level data, we tested: (a) the impact of errors on response-locked ERPs of the current and post-error trials (error-related negativity [ERN] and correct response negativity [CRN]) and (b) longer-term adaptation to errors (ERN/CRN) over the course of the task. Compared to HC, rMDD participants showed a larger ERN to the current trial and smaller habituation in ERN over time. On trials immediately following errors, rMDD participants showed slower reaction times that were predicted by the previous-trial ERN amplitude but comparable accuracy to HC, suggesting a deficient ability to disengage from errors and/or a compensatory effort to mitigate accuracy decrements. Critically, this pattern of responding: (a) was concurrently associated with greater levels of anhedonia symptoms, more severe MDD history, and interpersonal impairment (but lower impairment in life activities) and (b) predicted more anhedonia symptoms at one-year follow-up. Collectively, a hyperactive performance monitoring system may be a useful risk marker for future MDD recurrence.

BACKGROUND:During adolescence, peer support has an increasingly important role in identity formation and well-being. Prior research has identified that lack of social support from peers in adolescence is a potent risk factor for depression. Two ways that social support has been operationalized is by the number of one's friends (i.e., 'quantity') and perception of one's network (i.e., 'quality'). Typically, these aspects of peer support are assessed separately.METHODS:Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 3,857), this study sought to test whether (1) adolescent depression relates to having fewer friends versus lower quality friendships, (2) these aspects of adolescent peer support prospectively predict depression in adulthood, (3) gender moderates the effects of peer support on depression, and (4) these aspects of peer support buffer the effects of stressful life events on depression.RESULTS:Peer support quality uniquely predicted depression in adolescence and adulthood among both males and females. The effect of peer support quality on depressive symptoms, however, was greater for females than males. By contrast, peer support quantity did not uniquely predict depression for males or females.CONCLUSIONS:Qualitative aspects of adolescent peer support uniquely contribute to mental health not only in adolescence, but in adulthood as well. Potential processes through which peer support relates to depression are discussed, as well as implications for treatment.

Most adolescents with depression remain undiagnosed and untreated-missed opportunities that are costly from both personal and public health perspectives. A promising approach to detecting adolescent depression in real-time and at a large scale is through their social communication on the smartphone (e.g., text messages, social media posts). Past research has shown that language from online social communication reliably indicates interindividual differences in depression. To move toward detecting the emergence of depression symptoms intraindividually, the present study tested whether sentiment (i.e., words connoting positive and negative affect) from smartphone social communication prospectively predicted daily mood fluctuations in 83 adolescents (Mage = 16.49, 73.5% female) with a wide range of depression severity. Participants completed daily mood ratings across a 90-day period, during which 354,278 messages were passively collected from social communication apps. Greater positive sentiment (i.e., more positive weighted composite valence score and a greater proportion of words expressing positive sentiment) predicted more positive next-day mood, controlling for previous-day mood. Moreover, greater proportions of positive and negative sentiment were, respectively, associated with lower anhedonia and greater dysphoria symptoms measured at baseline. Exploratory analyses of nonaffective linguistic features showed that greater use of social engagement words (e.g., friends and affiliation) and emojis (primarily consisting of hearts) predicted more positive changes in mood. Collectively, findings suggest that language from smartphone social communication can detect mood fluctuations in adolescents, laying the foundation for language-based tools to identify periods of heightened depression risk. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Sexual functioning is an important predictor of well-being and relationship satisfaction. Previous research indicates that several aspects of cognitive function are related to sex-related behaviors and functioning among individuals with sex-related disorders, neurological disorders, and in older adults; however, this has been relatively underexamined in younger populations. To examine this, the present study assessed whether behavioral and/or neurophysiological measures of cognitive function are associated with sexual functioning in a community sample of young 489 adults (64 % female) ages 18-30. Cognitive flexibility (n = 460) and inhibition (n = 466) were measured using neuropsychological assessment (D-KEFS), and conflict monitoring and error monitoring were measured by event-related potentials (conflict N2: n = 394; error-related negativity: n = 389). After separately testing relations between the different measures of cognitive function and sexual functioning, we assessed whether results (1) remained after covarying for externalizing and internalizing dimensions (PID-5; n = 489) or (2) varied by gender. Finally, we tested whether any aspects of cognitive function were unique predictors of sexual functioning. Cognitive flexibility and error monitoring (i.e., error-related negativity) were both significantly related to sexual functioning among males and females, such that poorer cognitive flexibility and heightened error monitoring were related to lower sexual functioning. No significant effects emerged for inhibition or conflict monitoring. In a multiple regression model, cognitive flexibility and error monitoring each accounted for a unique portion of variance in sexual functioning beyond other aspects of cognitive function and psychopathology-related traits. Results suggest that cognitive function is a meaningful correlate of sexual functioning in young adulthood, which should be considered further in future research.

Individual differences in sensitivity to unpredictable threat may be a critical mechanism for internalizing psychopathology phenotypes. The present study examined whether the startle probe-elicited N100 and P300 during unpredictable threat - two event-related potentials indexing early and elaborative attentional processing of unpredictable threat - may be endophenotypes for internalizing psychopathology, including fear and distress/misery disorders and intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a clinical trait that is transdiagnostically associated with internalizing disorders. A large sample of adult siblings (N = 375) completed the no, predictable, and unpredictable threat task, during which the N100 and P300 were recorded. Relative to the no threat condition, N100 was more strongly enhanced in anticipation of unpredictable than predictable threat while P300 was suppressed to both predictable and unpredictable threat. While neither N100 enhancement nor P300 suppression to unpredictable threat was associated with fear or distress/misery disorders, they were negatively linked to inhibitory IU (a facet of IU). Thus, individuals high in inhibitory IU showed reduced attentional engagement with the threatening context when it was unpredictable. Further, N100 enhancement and, to a lesser degree, P300 suppression to unpredictable threat showed familial aggregation - a key criterion for determining whether a biomarker is an endophenotype. In sum, N100 enhancement and P300 suppression to unpredictable threat may be endophenotypes for dimensional measures of internalizing psychopathology.

There is a critical need for identifying time-sensitive and cost-effective markers of psychosis risk early in the illness course. One solution may lie in affect dynamics, or the fluctuations of affect across time, which have been demonstrated to predict transitions in psychopathology. Across three studies, the current research is the first to comprehensively investigate affect dynamics in relation to subthreshold positive symptoms (perceptual aberration and magical ideation) and negative symptoms (social anhedonia) of the psychosis spectrum. Across multiple time scales and contexts, we modeled affect dynamics from inexpensive laboratory paradigms and social-media text. Findings provided strong evidence for positive symptoms linked to heightened magnitude and frequency of affective fluctuations in response to emotional materials. Alternatively, negative symptoms showed modest association with heightened persistence of baseline states. These affect-dynamic signatures of psychosis risk provide insight on the distinct developmental pathways to psychosis and could facilitate current risk-detection approaches.

Evidence suggests that individuals with schizophrenia display a trait-state disjunction in affective experience characterized by severe trait-level disturbances yet relatively intact state-level experiences, but the extent to which trait-state disjunction is found in individuals at high risk (HR) for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders is unclear. Therefore, this meta-analysis provides an integrative evaluation of HR individuals’ self-reported affective experiences across trait and state to identify which disturbances are most pronounced and for whom – a crucial objective for understanding affective vulnerability factors for schizophrenia. A literature search yielded 181 studies, totaling 995 effect sizes across 9,672 HR and 15,386 controls. Notably, a large amount of heterogeneity among effect sizes was observed. Multivariate models with robust variance estimation showed that HR (vs. control) participants had lower trait positive affect (PA) and higher trait negative affect (NA), with state-level disturbances being weaker than trait-level disturbances. Heightened NA generalized across methods used for eliciting and assessing affective experiences, whereas PA deficits were more variable and most severe for social processes. Moreover, the severity of PA and NA disturbances was greater for participants with higher levels of schizophrenia-spectrum risk. Overall, findings provide support for the trait-state disjunction in HR conditions along the schizophrenia spectrum, although the observed heterogeneity highlights the uncertainty of our findings and urges continued investigation in further explicating this heterogeneity. We outline an explanatory model for these findings and discuss important implications to facilitate future research on the role affective experience disturbances may play in the developmental pathway for schizophrenia.

People with schizophrenia often experience a profound lack of motivation for social affiliation—a facet of negative symptoms that detrimentally impairs functioning. However, the mechanisms underlying social affiliative deficits remain poorly understood, particularly under realistic social contexts. Here, we investigated subjective reports and electroencephalography (EEG) functional connectivity in schizophrenia during a live social interaction. Individuals with schizophrenia (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 29) completed a face-to-face interaction with a confederate while having EEG recorded. Participants were randomly assigned to either a Closeness condition designed to elicit feelings of closeness through self-disclosure or a Small-Talk condition with minimal disclosure. Compared to controls, patients reported lower positive emotional experiences and feelings of closeness across conditions, but they showed comparably greater subjective affiliative responses for the Closeness (vs. Small-Talk) condition. Additionally, patients in the Closeness (vs. Small-Talk) condition displayed a global increase in connectivity in theta and alpha frequency bands that was not observed for controls. Importantly, greater theta and alpha connectivity was associated with greater subjective affiliative responding, greater negative symptoms, and lower disorganized symptoms in patients. Collectively, findings indicate that patients, because of pronounced negative symptoms, utilized a less efficient, top-down mediated strategy to process social affiliation.

Motivational abnormalities represent a key area of dysfunction in individuals with, or at risk for, schizophrenia and severely limit broad domains of functioning in these populations. The aberrant salience hypothesis posits that motivational abnormalities are the result of an over-attribution of salience to nonpleasurable stimuli but an under-attribution of salience to pleasurable ones. Consequently, people "want" what they do not "like" but do not "want" what they "like." However, it is unclear how this hypothesis manifests in schizophrenia risk beyond monetary rewards. The current research provided a multimodal investigation of the aberrant salience hypothesis in people with elevated psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) who are at risk for developing psychosis. Study 1 examined the link between liking and incentive salience using a neurobiological indicator of incentive salience (contingent negative variation/CNV) in 23 PLEs and 21 Control participants. The PLEs group showed diminished CNV reactivity to pleasant (vs. neutral) social images, which was driven by an augmented response to neutral stimuli. Study 2 examined liking, incentive salience, and conscious wanting experience using a psychological indicator of incentive salience (positive spontaneous thoughts/PSTs) in 38 PLEs and 246 Control participants. The PLEs group showed diminished correspondence between liking, PSTs, and conscious wanting across diverse reward contexts. Collectively, individuals with PLEs over-attribute salience to neutral stimuli and, to a lesser degree, under-attribute salience to rewards. Findings of the current research support abnormal salience attribution as a trait-like feature implicated in the pathophysiology and development of schizophrenia and provide valuable insights on research and treatment of this illness.