Table 1.
Papers investigating neuroimaging in major depressive disorder (MDD) within the subtype of reward liking, in the order they appear in the results section
| REWARD LIKING | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Reward task | Sample characteristics | Mean depression and anhedonia scores | Diagnostic criteria | Neuroimaging abnormality |
| Knutson et al., 2008 | Monetary incentive delay task (MID) | 14 Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) v 12 healthy controls (HCs) |
Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI-II) 25.38 No anhedonia score provided |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Recruit ACC more during anticipation of increasing gains, opposite to controls |
| Pizzagalli et al., 2009 | MID | 30 unmedicated MDD v 31 HCs |
Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) 17.97 BDI-II 27.48 Anhedonia present and assessed using BDI-II subscale, but score not reported |
Met DSM-IV criteria | NAc and caudate hypoactivation for rewards, and caudate hypoactivation for losses |
| Sankar et al., 2019 | MID | 20 female MDD v 20 HCs |
HAM-D 14.88 No anhedonia score provided |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Did not show activation in right anterior insula in response to gains and losses, unlike controls |
| Forbes et al., 2009 | Monetary reward guessing task | 15 adolescents with MDD v 28 adolescent HCs |
No HAM-D or BDI score provided No anhedonia score provided |
Diagnosis assessed by K-SADS-PL, confirmed by interview with child psychiatrist | Caudate hypoactivation, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and mPFC hyperactivation for rewards, correlating with lower positive affect |
| Redlich et al., 2015 | Card guessing | 33 MDD v 33 bipolar disorder v 34 HCs |
HAM-D 24.56 BDI 27.88 Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) 6.26 (HCs 0.52), binary scoring system where higher scores indicated higher anhedonia |
Met DSM-IV criteria | NAc hypoactivation for rewards, and increased coupling with ventral tegmental area (VTA) |
| Foti et al., 2014 | Monetary reward guessing task | 24 MDD v 18 HCs | MASQ depression subscale 38.09 MASQ anhedonia subscale 64.36 (HCs 40.00) | Met DSM-IV criteria | VS hypoactivation for reward, correlating with impaired mood reactivity |
| Satterthwaite et al., 2015 | Card guessing | 25 MDD v 27 bipolar v 37 HCs |
BDI-II 21.75 No anhedonia score provided |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Hypoactivation in VS, cingulate and insula for rewards, correlating with depression severity |
| Steele et al., 2007 | Card guessing | 15 MDD v 14 HCs |
HAM-D 27.5 BDI 36.9 SH 33.8 (HCs 51.9), where higher scores indicated lower anhedonia |
Met DSM-IV criteria | ACC hypoactivation for negative feedback, VS hypoactivation for positive feedback |
| Carl et al., 2016 | MID | 33 MDD v 20 HCs |
BDI-II 25.27 Anhedonia assessed using BDI-II subscale score 4.91 |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Faster NAc attenuation to rewards |
| Moses-Kolko et al., 2011 | Card guessing | 12 post-partum MDD v 12 HCs |
HAM-D 21.3 FCPS 126.3 (HCs 139.9) |
Met DSM-IV criteria, HAM-D score ≤15 in past month | Faster VS attenuation to rewards |
| Epstein et al., 2006 | Positive and negative word stimuli | 10 MDD v 12 HCs |
No HAM-D or BDI score provided Anhedonia assessed with 1 question on HAM-D, score not provided |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Ventral striatum (VS) hypoactivation for positive stimuli, correlating with anhedonia |
| Connolly et al., 2015 | Affective pictorial stimuli | 51 female unmedicated MDD v 61 HCs |
IDS-C score 25.43 Anhedonia score from average of two IDS-C items 1.71 (HCs 0.02) |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Striatal hypoactivation for affective stimuli, across caudate, putamen and nucleus accumbens (NAc) |
| Antonesei et al., 2018 | Gustatory reward stimuli | 26 MDD v 33 HCs | No HAM-D, BDI or anhedonia score provided. | Not reported | Left caudate hypoactivation in response to targets predicting rewarding stimuli |
| Keedwell et al., 2005 | Happy and sad emotional stimuli | 12 MDD v 12 HCs |
BDI 33.5 Fawcett-Clark Pleasure Scale (FCPS) 63.3 (HCs not provided) |
Met ICD-10 criteria | Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) hyperactivation and VS hypoactivation for happy stimuli, correlating with anhedonia |
| Osuch et al., 2009 | Listening to favourite music | 16 MDD v 15 HCs |
BDI 25.3 SHAPS 36.4 (significantly lower than HCs), where higher SHAPS scores indicated lower anhedonia |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Hypoactivation of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and VS for music |
| Jenkins et al., 2018 | Listening to preferred music | 12 MDD v 10 HCs |
HAM-D 15.08 SHAPS 6.67 (HCs 0.00), binary scoring system where higher SHAPS scores indicated higher anhedonia |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Faster attenuation of NAc activation |
| Johnston et al., 2015 | Instrumental loss-avoidance and win-gain task | 20 treatment resistant MDD v 20 HCs |
HAM-D 16.00 BDI-II 32.42 No anhedonia score provided |
Clinical diagnosis in tertiary service for treatment resistant MDD | Striatal hyperactivation for rewards, less hippocampal deactivation for losses |
| Forbes et al., 2006 | Probabilistic reward task | 14 MDD v 17 HCs, all aged 9–17 |
No HAM-D or BDI score provided No anhedonia score provided |
Diagnosis assessed using K-SADS-PL, met DSM-IV criteria | Hypoactivation of ACC, caudate and OFC, and hyperactivation of amygdala |
| Keren et al., 2018 | Meta-analysis | 38 fMRI studies | NA | NA | Striatal hypoactivation for rewards |
| Zhang et al., 2013 | Meta-analysis | 22 fMRI studies | NA | NA | Caudate hypoactivation for rewards |
| McCabe et al., 2009 | Sight and flavour of pleasant and aversive foods | 13 remitted MDD v 14 HCs |
HAM-D 2.3 BDI 5.5 FCPS 118 (HCs 118), no significant difference SHAPS 23 (HCs 19.25), no significant difference |
Met DSM-IV criteria for at least 1 past major depressive episode (MDE), no current Axis I psychopathology | VS hypoactivation for pleasant stimuli, and caudate hypoactivation for unpleasant stimuli |
| Ubl, Kuehner, Kirsch, Ruttorf, Diener, et al., 2015b | Probabilistic reward task | 30 unmedicated MDD v 29 HCs |
HAM-D 18.40 BDI-II 25.50 SHAPS 42.93 (HCs 49.29), where higher SHAPS scores indicated lower anhedonia |
Met DSM-IV criteria | No difference in striatal activation for rewards |
| Engelmann et al., 2017 | Probabilistic reward task | 19 unmedicated MDD v 23 HCs |
No HAM-D or BDI score provided No anhedonia score provided |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Increased coding of losses in anterior insula |
| Mitterschiffthaler et al., 2003 | Positive and negative valenced images | 7 females with MDD and high anhedonia v 7 HCs |
BDI 33.6 FCPS 2.90 (HCs 4.14) |
Met DSM-IV criteria, full criteria met over period of ≥2 years. | Hypoactivation of mPFC, and hyperactivation of inferior frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), thalamus, putamen and insula for positive images |
| Kumar et al., 2015 | MID | 12 MDD v 10 HCs |
BDI-II 25.25 SHAPS 5.42 (HCs 0.40), binary scoring system where higher scores indicated higher anhedonia |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Hyperactivation of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) for rewards under stress, greatest with previous adverse life events |
| Dichter et al., 2012 | MID | 19 remitted MDD v 19 HCs |
BDI 2.63 No anhedonia score provided |
Met DSM-IV criteria for remitted MDD no current Axis I psychopathology | Hypoactivation in OFC, frontal pole, thalamus and insula for rewards |
| McCabe, 2016 | Subjective ratings of oral stimuli | 13 remitted MDD v 14 HCs |
HAM-D 2.3 BDI 5.5 FCPS 118 (HCs 118), no significant difference SHAPS 23 (HCs 19.25), no significant difference |
Met DSM-IV criteria for at least 1 past Major Depressive Episode (MDE), recovery assessed through clinical interview and HAM-D score <8 | Negative correlation of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) with liking of stimuli |
| Schiller et al., 2013 | MID | 19 remitted MDD v 19 HCs |
BDI-II 2.6 No anhedonia score provided |
Met DSM-IV criteria for remitted MDD, no current Axis I psychopathology | Superior frontal and inferior frontal hypoactivation for losses |
| Morgan et al., 2016 | Card guessing | 43 boys with history of MDD v 68 with history of other psychiatric illnesses v 55 HCs |
MAFQ 6.27 No anhedonia score provided |
Diagnosis assessed using K-SADS at ages 8, 10, 11, 12, and using DSM-IV at age 20 | Increased connectivity from the mPFC to striatal areas for rewards |
| Young et al., 2016 | Listening to pleasant music | 25 MDD v 25 HCs |
HAM-D 26.57 Anhedonia subscale of Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ), MASQ-AD 61.81 (HCs 39.27) |
Met DSM-IV criteria | Reduced connectivity from posterior vmPFC to other frontostriatal areas, including the OFC, insula, NAc, and VTA, during music, correlating with anhedonia |