Interaction Effects of Irritability and Anhedonia on ERP and Time-Frequency Measures of Reward Sensitivity.

anhedonia; event‐related potentials (ERP); generalized eigendecomposition; irritability; reward; time–frequency; Humans; Female; Male; Young Adult; Adult; Electroencephalography; Adolescent; Reward; Anhedonia/physiology; Evoked Potentials/physiology; Irritable Mood/physiology; Evoked Potentials; Irritable Mood; Physiology; Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology; Experimental and Cognitive Psychology; Physiology (medical)

Abstract :

[en] Irritability and anhedonia are two prevalent, co-occurring, and impairing symptoms of major depression that are proposed to result from dysfunctions in reward processing. While irritability is associated with heightened sensitivity to reward receipt, anhedonia is linked to blunted sensitivity to reward receipt. Given these supposed paradoxical effects on reward sensitivity, it is noteworthy that no studies have examined how both symptoms interact to affect reward sensitivity. In a community sample of young adults (N = 73, Mage = 21.21 ± 2.27, 56.16% females), we evaluated the interacting effects of dimensionally assessed irritability and anhedonia symptoms on neural measures of reward and loss sensitivity during a well-established reward paradigm (the Doors task). Event-related potential and time-frequency measures were analyzed using both univariate and a multivariate method based on generalized eigendecomposition to isolate delta- and theta-band activity in response to feedback. Linear-mixed models tested the unique and interacting effects of irritability and anhedonia on EEG measures of reward sensitivity (FRN/N2, theta, and delta power). Participants with above-average irritability and anhedonia displayed larger (more negative) FRN/N2 amplitudes across feedback valence, and reduced theta power following reward, whereas no associations were observed at lower symptom levels. These findings suggest that individuals with co-occurring irritability and anhedonia may perceive feedback overall (reward and loss) as more salient, while interpreting rewards as less motivationally relevant. These effects remained significant when controlling for broader depressive symptoms, gender, and income. These results provide preliminary evidence that co-occurring irritability and anhedonia jointly influence neural sensitivity to feedback, in individuals without clinical levels of symptoms. Awaiting validation in clinical samples, our results highlight the importance of considering symptom interactions to better understand reward-related mechanisms in depression.

Research center :

CIPSE - Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en Psychophysiologie et Electrophysiologie de la cognition

Disciplines :

Neurosciences & behavior

Author, co-author :

BELLAERT, Nellia ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education > Service de Psychologie cognitive et Neuropsychologie ; Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Cassioli, Federico ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education > Service de Psychologie cognitive et Neuropsychologie ; Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Crowley, Michael J; Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Lim, Yi Voon; Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Rossignol, Mandy ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education > Service de Psychologie cognitive et Neuropsychologie

Deveney, Christen M; Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA

Tseng, Wan-Ling; Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Language :

English

Title :

Interaction Effects of Irritability and Anhedonia on ERP and Time-Frequency Measures of Reward Sensitivity.

Publication date :

February 2026

Journal title :

Psychophysiology

ISSN :

0048-5772

eISSN :

1469-8986

Publisher :

John Wiley and Sons Inc, United States

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

e70260

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/psyp.70260

Research unit :

P325 - Psychologie cognitive et Neuropsychologie

Research institute :

Santé

Funders :

F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute of Mental Health
Belgian American Educational Foundation
Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine
Charles H. Hood Foundation
Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, Yale School of Medicine

Funding text :

N.B. is funded by doctoral grants from the Belgian American Educational Foundation and the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research F.R.S.\u2010FNRS. W.\u2010L. T. is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (R00MH110570, DP2MH140132\u201301), Charles H. Hood Foundation, and Fund to Retain Clinical Scientists from the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation. F.C. and M.R. are funded by the Research Foundations FWO and F.R.S.\u2010FNRS under the Excellence of Science (EOS) program (EOS 40007528/G0I2422N).N.B. is funded by doctoral grants from the Belgian American Educational Foundation and the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research F.R.S.-FNRS. W.-L. T. is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (R00MH110570, DP2MH140132\u201301), Charles H. Hood Foundation, and Fund to Retain Clinical Scientists from the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation. F.C. and M.R. are funded by the Research Foundations FWO and F.R.S.-FNRS under the Excellence of Science (EOS) program (EOS 40007528/G0I2422N). We thank all participants that took part in this study.

Data Set :

https://osf.io/97wks/

Available on ORBi UMONS :

since 29 March 2026

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