title: Performance monitoring and empathy during active and observational learning in patients with major depression.
abstract: Previous literature established a link between major depressive disorder (MDD) and altered reward processing as well as between empathy and (observational) reward learning. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of MDD on the electrophysiological correlates - the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the P300 - of active and observational reward processing and to relate them to trait cognitive and affective empathy. Eighteen patients with MDD and 16 healthy controls performed an active and an observational probabilistic reward-learning task while event- related potentials were recorded. Also, participants were assessed with regard to self-reported cognitive and affective trait empathy. Relative to healthy controls, patients with MDD showed overall impaired learning and attenuated FRN amplitudes, irrespective of feedback valence and learning type (active vs. observational), but comparable P300 amplitudes. In the patient group, but not in controls, higher trait perspective taking scores were significantly correlated with reduced FRN amplitudes. The pattern of results suggests impaired prediction error processing and a negative effect of higher trait empathy on feedback-based learning in patients with MDD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. Electronic address: Patrizia.Thoma@rub.de.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thoma
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ruhr-University of Bochum, LWL University Hospital, Alexandrinenstraße 1, 44791 Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Norra
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ruhr-University of Bochum, LWL University Hospital, Alexandrinenstraße 1, 44791 Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Juckel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Suchan
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bellebaum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012201:Reward
keywords: Depression; Empathy; FRN; Observational learning; Reward