Abstract
Response reversal deficits are well documented in bipolar disorder (BD). Although frequently construed as an index of reward processing abnormalities, these response reversal deficits might simply result from more general cognitive inflexibility. Given that both are implicated in BD, our goal was to more carefully test whether reversal learning deficits are specific to reward processing or reflect more general cognitive inflexibility. To more carefully assess deficits, a novel variant of the response reversal task was used to separate responses to in reward versus punishment feedback. In addition, while response reversal deficits are well documented in BD, it is still unknown if these deficits are observable in people at risk for the disorder, whose performance would be unconfounded by medication use and illness course. To assess the presence of premorbid response reversal deficits, we tested students at risk for developing BD, as defined by the well-validated Hypomanic Personality Scale. Undergraduates (n = 99) were randomly assigned to complete either a reward only or a punishment only version of a response reversal task. Mania risk was related to difficulty reversing responses following reward, but not punishment feedback. Findings suggest that a deficit in response reversal may be an index of reward dysregulation in BD, and that this deficit can be observed even in those at high risk for the development of BD.
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Notes
Sample items include “Sometimes ideas and insights come to me so fast that I cannot express.them all” and “I have often persuaded groups of friends to do something really adventurous or crazy”.
We conducted analyses including the participants who were excluded for task performance to examine effects. Results were stronger but otherwise parallel.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Jordan Tharp, Chris Bruce, Aly DiRocco and Andrea Elser for their large contribution to the completion of this project. We thank Stuart F. White for providing assistance with scoring this task.
Funding
Andrew Peckham was supported by NIMH grant T32-MH089918 during the completion of this manuscript.
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The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helinski Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.
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Feiss, A., Johnson, S.L., Peckham, A. et al. Valence specific response reversal deficits and risk for mania. Motiv Emot 41, 661–670 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-017-9633-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-017-9633-7