Key Questions Answered
Q: How does genetic risk for depression affect the brain?
A: Young adults with a higher genetic predisposition to depression showed reduced brain activity in key areas linked to decision-making and emotional regulation during reward and punishment tasks.
Q: Does this occur before symptoms of depression appear?
A: Yes. The study identified these brain activity differences in people with no current depression symptoms, suggesting early neural markers of risk.
Q: Are there differences between men and women?
A: Yes. The research found sex-specific neural response patterns, indicating that men and women may have different biological pathways linking genetic risk to depression.
Summary: A new imaging study reveals that young adults with a higher genetic risk for depression show diminished brain activity when processing rewards and punishments. Using data from nearly 900 healthy twins and siblings, researchers found altered activation in brain regions linked to attention and decision-making—well before any symptoms of depression appeared.
Notably, these changes were sex-specific and included a unique neural marker for punishment sensitivity in the posterior cingulate cortex. The findings point toward the potential for early detection and personalized prevention strategies for depression.
Key Facts:
- Blunted Response: Higher genetic risk for depression was linked to reduced brain activity in decision-making areas during both rewards and punishments.
- Punishment-Specific Marker: The posterior cingulate cortex showed a strong link to punishment sensitivity, not rewards.
- Sex Differences: Neural responses varied between men and women, suggesting gender-specific risk pathways.
Source: Elsevier
Novel imaging research indicates that young adults with a higher genetic risk for depression showed less brain activity in several areas when responding to rewards and punishments.
The study also uncovered notable differences between men and women.
The findings from this new study in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging highlight potential early indicators for depression before clinical symptoms fully manifest.
Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions, and many people with depression have trouble processing rewards and punishments. It is known that genetics plays a role in depression, but it is not yet clear how genetic risk might affect the brain’s response to positive and negative experiences.
The researchers of the current study explored this connection in young adults before symptoms of depression fully developed.
In one of the first studies to show how genetic risk for depression might affect how the brain responds to good and bad outcomes in everyday decision-making, researchers explored how neural markers of reward and punishment processing reflect the overall genetic risks for depression, whether these markers are distinct from those associated with depression severity, and whether men and women show differences in these genetically informed neural markers.
“The study’s focus on individuals who are not yet diagnosed with depression paves the way for a better understanding of how genetic predisposition interacts with brain function in the context of reward and punishment, opening up new avenues for early detection and targeted therapies for depression,” comments Editor-in-Chief of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Cameron S. Carter, MD, University of California Irvine.
Researchers evaluated functional MRI brain scans and genotyping data from nearly 900 healthy twins or siblings (ages 22-35) in the Human Connectome Project (HCP) while they played a gambling game that involved winning or losing money. They looked at how the participants’ brains responded during wins and losses, and how that related to their genetic risk for depression.
Lead investigator Chiang-Shan R. Li, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, and Inter-department Neuroscience Program and Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, reports, “We found that individuals with higher genetic risk for depression showed less activity in brain areas linked to attention and decision-making like the frontal, parietal, and occipital cortical regions of the brain.
“One area, the posterior cingulate cortex, was strongly associated with punishment but not reward processing. This potential punishment-specific region opens up interesting new questions. We also observed sex-dependent neural responses that suggest potentially sex-specific neurobiological pathways linking genetic risk to depression.”
Lead author of the article Yu Chen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, concludes, “This research shows that genetic risk for depression can quietly influence how the brain reacts to everyday rewards and setbacks—even before someone feels depressed.
“These early brain markers could help us detect who is at risk and find better ways to intervene before symptoms appear. The gender differences identified make this work exceptionally timely, as the field moves toward more personalized mental healthcare.”
About this genetics and depression research news
Author: Eileen Leahy
Source: Elsevier
Contact: Eileen Leahy – Elsevier
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Polygenic Risks for Depression and Neural Responses to Reward and Punishment in Young Adults” by Yu Chen et al. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
Abstract
Polygenic Risks for Depression and Neural Responses to Reward and Punishment in Young Adults
Background
Extensive research has shown aberrant reward and punishment processing in people with depression. Genetic risks contribute to depression, but whether or how these risks of depression may affect behavioral and neural responses to reward and punishment remains unclear.
Methods
We curated the data of 879 young adults performing a gambling task during brain imaging from the Human Connectome Project. Depression severity was assessed with the Achenbach Adult Self Report. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for depression were computed for all participants.
With published routines and at a corrected threshold, we evaluated how brain responses to reward and punishment were associated with depression scores and PRSs in a linear regression in all, male, and female participants, with age, sex (for all), race, and drinking severity as covariates.
Results
The results showed broad frontal, parietal, and occipital cortical activation in negative correlation with PRSs during both reward and punishment processing. Notably, posterior cingulate cortical activation was specifically associated with PRS-related punishment processing. In addition, men and women displayed both shared and distinct neural responses to PRS-related reward and punishment processing.
Conclusions
These findings highlight the influence of genetic risks for depression on neural responses to reward and punishment and provide insights into genetically informed markers of depression.
