Neurophysiological reward responsiveness, stress, and depressive symptoms across the perinatal period

项目总结/摘要 围产期抑郁症（即，怀孕期间和分娩后的抑郁症）是一种普遍和衰弱的疾病， 与孕产妇功能严重受损和对健康的负面影响有关的疾病 因此，迫切需要确定预防目标。神经科学研究之外 围产期已经显示出减少的神经奖赏反应性和 抑郁症，但抑郁症进一步改变奖励反应的程度还有待研究。 围产期是奖励系统适应的独特时期，这对以下方面有影响： 抑郁症的发展，但神经科学研究主要限于产后时期 由于担心怀孕期间神经成像的安全性。压力既能降低 奖励反应性和低奖励反应性对抑郁症的中度影响，进一步增加了 抑郁症的复杂性。考虑到额外的压力和独特的生物变化 与奖励系统适应相关，需要纵向工作来了解 妇女会患上围产期抑郁症。作为一个更大的项目的一部分，这项研究将使用安全， 时间敏感的方法来测量神经奖励反应，压力和抑郁症状， 100例妊娠20周、妊娠34周和产后8周的孕妇。在每个 评估，参与者将完成一个货币激励延迟任务，而脑电图是 记录对奖励和损失反馈的反应。事件相关电位（例如，奖励积极性，可靠的 初始奖励响应性的时域测量）和时间-频率数据（即，δ和θ活动， 分别对奖励和负面结果敏感的频域标记）将用于 测量对奖励的神经生理反应。参与者将完成自我报告和访谈措施 抑郁症状和压力的记录通过对这些数据的纵向收集， 一项研究将使用以下方法检验奖励反应性降低与抑郁之间的纵向联系： 一个创新的双向模型，可以区分这些关联随时间的方向性（特定目标 1）。这项工作还将测试压力作为奖励反应和奖励反应之间的联系的调节剂， 围产期的抑郁症状（具体目标2）。这个博士前奖学金将带来 在各自领域的专家团队一起，并允许在生活压力评估方面进行高级培训， 围生期抑郁症与危险性、脑电图时频分析及定量方法。在一起，研究 项目和培训将为研究员提供机会，为富有成效的职业生涯发展必要的技能， 一位临床科学家，研究情绪和社会过程的变化，以及这些过程是如何发生的。 有助于情绪障碍的发展，以告知干预。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Perinatal depression (i.e., depression during pregnancy and following childbirth) is a prevalent and debilitating condition that is associated with significant impairments in maternal functioning and negative impacts on offspring, making the identification of targets for prevention critically needed. Neuroscience research outside of the perinatal period has shown a prospective association between reduced neural reward responsiveness and depression, but the extent to which depression further alters reward responsiveness has yet to be examined. The perinatal period presents a unique time of adaptations of the reward system which have implications for the development of depression, but neuroscience research has primarily been limited to the postpartum period due to concerns about the safety of neuroimaging during pregnancy. Stress has been shown both to reduce reward responsiveness and moderate effects of low reward responsiveness on depression, adding further complexity to pathways to depression across time. Given the added stress and unique biological changes associated with reward system adaptations, longitudinal work is needed to understand pathways through which women develop perinatal depression. As part of a larger project, this research study will use safe and temporally sensitive methods to measure neural reward responsiveness, stress, and depressive symptoms in 100 pregnant women at 20 weeks gestation, 34 weeks gestation, and 8 weeks postpartum. At each assessment, participants will complete a monetary incentive delay task while electroencephalogram is recorded in response to reward and loss feedback. Event-related potential (e.g., the reward positivity, a reliable time-domain measure of initial reward responsiveness) and time-frequency data (i.e., delta and theta activity, frequency-domain markers of sensitivity to rewards and negative outcomes, respectively) will be used to measure neurophysiological response to reward. Participants will complete self-report and interview measures of depressive symptoms and stress at each visit. Through the longitudinal collection of these data, the present research will examine longitudinal associations between reduced reward responsiveness and depression using an innovative bidirectional model to tease apart directionality of these associations across time (Specific Aim 1). This work will also test stress as a moderator of the associations between reward responsiveness and depressive symptoms across the perinatal period (Specific Aim 2). This predoctoral fellowship award will bring together a team of experts in their respective fields and allow for advanced training in life stress assessment, perinatal depression and risk, EEG time-frequency analysis, and quantitative methods. Together, the research project and training will provide the fellow the opportunity to develop necessary skills for a productive career as a clinical scientist investigating alterations in emotional and social processing and how these processes contribute to the development of mood disorders to inform intervention.