Anhedonia In Subclinical Depression In The College Student Population: A ERP Study

Objective: Recently studies have found the incidence of subclinicaldepression in college students is very high. And as a risk factor of major depressivedisorder, subclinical depression can effect individuals’ physiological function, cognitivefunction and social function. Anhedonia is considered as the ability to respond topleasant stimuli reduced, also is one of the core symptoms of major depressive disorder.But studies about the connection between subclinical depression and anhedonia islimited. Therefore, this study will use psychometric questionnaires and event-relatedpotentials method to study about the relationship between subclinical depression andanhedonia.Subjects and Method: Firstly, investigators selected45students from the541collegestudents by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) screening, which had positivesymptoms (BDI≥16). Secondly, they were interviewed with SCID to exclude majordepressive disorder and other mood disorders. Thirdly,15college students wereselected to enter the subclinical depression group, and then15college students werematched with no positive symptoms (BDI≤5) to enter the healthy control group.Subsequently, two groups of subjects were asked to complete the Temporal Experienceof Pleasure Scale (TEPS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Finally, a monetaryreward paradigm named “Two Door Task” with event-related potentials (ERP) was usedto study their difference between each other. And feedback related negativity (FRN) andstimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) were recorded at the same time.Results: TEPS scores of subclinical depression group was significantly lower than thecontrol group and the anticipatory pleasure scores of the two dimensions was alsosignificantly lower than the control group, but not significantly in the consummatoryone. The significant differences between two groups were in the STAI total scores andtrait anxiety scores, but not in state anxiety scores. The repeated measures analysis ofvariance showed a boundary significant difference SPN; FRN only showed significantdifferences between different conditions but not between the two groups. Conclusion: The subclinical depression students have anhedonia, and the anticipatoryanhedonia is their major performance. The psychological physiological mechanism inthe expectation of reward processing is fear of failure.