Insights into psychosis risk: unveiling impaired reinforcement learning through a behavioral and functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based optical neuroimaging study
Background - Reward processing is crucial for learning, motivation and decision-making, and can be disturbed in the development of psychosis. Previous research has linked cognitive impairment and abnormalities in brain function to the clinical high risk state of psychosis (CHR-P). However, the exten...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
April 2025
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| In: |
Journal of psychiatric research
Year: 2025, Volume: 184, Pages: 187-197 |
| ISSN: | 1879-1379 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.01.051 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.01.051 Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395625000597 
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| Author Notes: | Arndt-Lukas Klaassen, Chantal Michel, Miriam Stüble, Felix Scholkmann, Michael Kaess, Jochen Kindler |
| Summary: | Background - Reward processing is crucial for learning, motivation and decision-making, and can be disturbed in the development of psychosis. Previous research has linked cognitive impairment and abnormalities in brain function to the clinical high risk state of psychosis (CHR-P). However, the extent to which processes of cognitive flexibility in response to reward feedback are impaired in CHR-P compared to healthy control (HC) individuals is largely unknown. - Methods - To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a probabilistic reward task in 59 people with CHR-P (age: 18.89 ± 0.66 years, 54% female) from the Bern Early Recognition and Intervention Center, and 24 HC (age: 19.37 ± 1.20 years, 50% female). In addition, we recorded the prefrontal neurovascular response of the subjects using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) neuroimaging during task performance. - Results - Behavioral results of the probabilistic reward task showed that CHR-P subjects had a significantly lower propensity for reward feedback compared to HC subjects, especially in the later course of the task (p = 0.018, Cohen's d = 0.58). When comparing the fNIRS measurements, we found a significantly lower task-induced increase in total hemoglobin concentration ([tHb]) in CHR-P subjects compared to HC subjects (p = 0.049). - Conclusions - Our findings indicate impaired reward feedback processing in CHR-P subjects, suggesting reduced sensitivity to reward. This is reflected in decreased task-induced response in cerebrovascular [tHb], indicating lower task-relevant prefrontal activities compared to HC subjects. These findings suggest that impaired processing of reward feedback may contribute to reward learning deficits and inflexible cognition in CHR-P subjects. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 01.09.2025 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1879-1379 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.01.051 |