title: Neural reactivity to reward in school-age offspring of depressed mothers.
abstract: Identifying neural profiles predictive of future psychopathology in at-risk individuals is important to efficiently direct preventive care. Alterations in reward processing may be a risk factor for depression. The current study characterized neural substrates of reward processing in children at low- and high-risk for psychopathology due to maternal depression status.
  
  
  
  Children with (n=27) and without (n=19) maternal depression (ages 5.9-9.6 years) performed a monetary incentive delay task in which they received rewards, if they successfully hit a target, or no reward regardless of performance, during fMRI acquisition.
  
  
  
  Multiple dorsal prefrontal, temporal, and striatal regions showed significant Group (high- vs. low-risk)×Performance (hit vs. miss)×Condition (no reward vs. reward) interactions in a whole-brain analysis. All regions exhibited similar patterns, whereby the high-risk group showed blunted activation differences between trials with vs. without rewards when participants hit the target. Moreover, high-risk children showed activation differences between trials with vs. without rewards in the opposite direction, compared to the low-risk group, when they missed the target.
  
  
  
  This study had a modest sample size, though larger than existing studies. Children with maternal depression are at elevated risk for future psychopathology, yet not all experience clinically significant symptoms; longitudinal research is necessary to fully track the pathway from risk to disorder.
  
  
  
  Children of depressed mothers exhibited attenuated neural activation differences and activation patterns opposite to children without depressed mothers. Our findings may provide targets for hypothesis-driven preventive interventions and lead to earlier identification of individuals at risk.
authors.affiliation: San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, United States; Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, United States. Electronic address: jillian.wiggins@sdsu.edu.
authors.forename: Jillian Lee
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wiggins
authors.affiliation: San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, United States.
authors.forename: Karen T G
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, United States.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kryza-Lacombe
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, United States.
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Spechler
authors.affiliation: Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, United States.
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Blankenship
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, United States; Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, United States. Electronic address: ldougher@umd.edu.
authors.forename: Lea R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Dougherty
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009042:Motivation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward; D012307:Risk Factors; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Brain; Children; Maternal depression; Psychopathology; Reward; Risk; fMRI