Summary: Depression specifically impairs the ability to learn how to actively avoid unpleasant events, though it does not affect avoidance behavior once learned. Researchers tested 465 participants across a range of depressive symptoms in a task adapted from rodent research, involving sounds and visual cues.
Those with more severe symptoms had difficulty at the learning stage but eventually performed at the same level as others once they acquired the skill. The findings suggest depression may uniquely affect the acquisition of avoidance learning rather than avoidance itself.
Key Facts
- Specific Impairment: Depression interferes with learning to actively avoid unpleasant events.
- Performance Catches Up: Once tasks are learned, depressed individuals perform as well as others.
- Future Questions: Researchers aim to test how depression affects avoidance in complex or long-term contexts.
Source: SfN
Depression alters how people pursue rewards, but, conversely, whether depressive symptoms influence how people learn to avoid nonrewarding, unpleasant events is less clear.
Ryan Tomm and colleagues, from the University of British Colombia, addressed this question in their eNeuro paper to shed more light on the relationship between depression and learning.
This work brought together researchers from preclinical, cognitive, and clinical backgrounds, building stronger connections across fields to better understand the mechanisms of depression.
The researchers developed a behavioral task for study volunteers based off rodent research that involves participants listening to sounds while looking at a screen with visual cues signaling sounds to come.
Participants learned to avoid unpleasant sounds either by actively responding or withholding responses to cues.
From a sample of 465 participants with a wide range of depressive symptoms from low to severe, the researchers found that people with more severe symptoms struggled to learn to actively avoid aversive sounds compared to those with less severe symptoms.
However, once they did learn the task, their ability to actively avoid unpleasant sounds matched those with less symptoms.
Thus, according to the authors, depressive symptoms may interfere specifically with learning to actively avoid unpleasant events, rather than with avoidance more broadly.
“What we still don’t know,” says Tomm, “is how depressive symptoms affect avoidance when people continue to learn after being proficient at an avoidance task, or in more complex situations where the best way to avoid something is unclear.
“As we actively explore these questions, we hope our work will provide a deeper understanding of how depression shapes avoidance behavior across different contexts.”
About this depression and learning research news
Author: SfN Media
Source: SfN
Contact: SfN Media – SfN
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: The findings will appear in eNeuro
