Reward Versus Nonreward Sensitivity of the Medial Versus Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex Relates to the Severity of Depressive Symptoms
Chao Xie, Tianye Jia, Edmund T. Rolls, Trevor W. Robbins, Barbara J. Sahakian, Jie Zhang, Zhaowen Liu, Wei Cheng, Qiang Luo, Chun‐Yi Zac Lo, He Wang, Tobias Banaschewski, Gareth J. Barker, Arun L.W. Bokde, Christian Büchel, Erin Burke Quinlan, Sylvane Desrivières, Herta Flor, Antoine Grigis, Hugh Garavan, Penny Gowland, Andreas Heinz, Sarah Hohmann, Bernd Ittermann, Jean‐Luc Martinot, Marie‐Laure Paillère Martinot, Frauke Nees, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos, Tomáš Paus, Luise Poustka, Juliane H. Fröhner, Michael N. Smolka, Henrik Walter, Robert Whelan, Günter Schumann, Jianfeng Feng, Éric Artiges, Semiha Aydın, Tobias Banaschewski, Alexis Barbot, Gareth J. Barker, Andreas Becker, Pauline Bézivin-Frere, Francesca Biondo, Arun L.W. Bokde, Christian Büchel, Congying Chu, Patricia Conrod, Laura S. Daedelow, Jeffrey W. Dalley, Sylvane Desrivières, Eoin Dooley, Irina Filippi, Ariane Fillmer, Herta Flor, Juliane H. Fröhner, Vincent Frouin, Hugh Garavan, Penny Gowland, Yvonne Grimmer, Andreas Heinz, Sarah Hohmann, Albrecht Ihlenfeld, Alex Ing, Corinna Isensee, Bernd Ittermann, Tianye Jia, Hervé Lemaître, Emma Lethbridge, Jean‐Luc Martinot, Sabina Millenet, Sarah Miller, Rubén Miranda, Frauke Nees, Marie-Laure Paillère, Dimitri Papadopoulos, Tomáš Paus, Zdenka Pausová, Jani Pentillä, Jean‐Baptiste Poline, Luise Poustka, Erin Burke, Michael A. Rapp, Trevor W. Robbins, Guillaume Robert, John Rogers, Barbara Ruggeri, Günter Schumann, Michael N. Smolka, Argyris Stringaris, Betteke Maria van Noort, Henrik Walter, Robert Whelan, R. Simon, Steven Williams, Yuning Zhang
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in depression. The hypothesis investigated was whether the OFC sensitivity to reward and nonreward is related to the severity of depressive symptoms. METHODS: Activations in the monetary incentive delay task were measured in the IMAGEN cohort at ages 14 years (n = 1877) and 19 years (n = 1140) with a longitudinal design. Clinically relevant subgroups were compared at ages 19 (high-severity group: n = 116; low-severity group: n = 206) and 14. RESULTS: The medial OFC exhibited graded activation increases to reward, and the lateral OFC had graded activation increases to nonreward. In this general population, the medial and lateral OFC activations were associated with concurrent depressive symptoms at both ages 14 and 19 years. In a stratified high-severity depressive symptom group versus control group comparison, the lateral OFC showed greater sensitivity for the magnitudes of activations related to nonreward in the high-severity group at age 19 (p = .027), and the medial OFC showed decreased sensitivity to the reward magnitudes in the high-severity group at both ages 14 (p = .002) and 19 (p = .002). In a longitudinal design, there was greater sensitivity to nonreward of the lateral OFC at age 14 for those who exhibited high depressive symptom severity later at age 19 (p = .003). CONCLUSIONS: Activations in the lateral OFC relate to sensitivity to not winning, were associated with high depressive symptom scores, and at age 14 predicted the depressive symptoms at ages 16 and 19. Activations in the medial OFC were related to sensitivity to winning, and reduced reward sensitivity was associated with concurrent high depressive symptom scores.