UR Scholarship Repository - Arts & Sciences Student Symposium: Lifting Depression: The Impact of Contingency Training on Neurobiological Markers of Emotional Resilience
 

Presenter Information

Ana Deutsch, University of Richmond

Location

University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

Document Type

Slide Presentation (UR Campus Only)

Description

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has a huge impact on our society, being a leading cause of disability worldwide. The current study focuses on a preventative approach to MDD, in the form of effort-based reward (EBR) contingency training. Twenty animals were trained to associate physical effort with a food reward using this model, while twenty animals served as controls and were simply given the reward. Animals were then assessed on a hippocampal-dependent pattern separation task and an uncertainty task, as well as on endocrine and neurobiological markers of emotional resilience. Results showed that contingent trained animals performed better that non-contingent animals on the hippocampal-dependent pattern separation assessment when the task was hardest. EBR animals also exhibited a lower activation of the lateral habenula, a brain region that is overactive in MDD. Preliminary data also show a higher ratio of GRIN2B/2A, genes that code for NMDA receptor subtypes, in the dentate gyrus of the contingent trained group, a ratio that has been linked to flexible problem solving. Taken together, data from this study show that contingency training is associated with a shift from emotional vulnerability to emotional resilience, making it a potentially effective way to prevent disorders like MDD.

Comments

Department: Psychology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kelly Lambert

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Lifting Depression: The Impact of Contingency Training on Neurobiological Markers of Emotional Resilience

University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has a huge impact on our society, being a leading cause of disability worldwide. The current study focuses on a preventative approach to MDD, in the form of effort-based reward (EBR) contingency training. Twenty animals were trained to associate physical effort with a food reward using this model, while twenty animals served as controls and were simply given the reward. Animals were then assessed on a hippocampal-dependent pattern separation task and an uncertainty task, as well as on endocrine and neurobiological markers of emotional resilience. Results showed that contingent trained animals performed better that non-contingent animals on the hippocampal-dependent pattern separation assessment when the task was hardest. EBR animals also exhibited a lower activation of the lateral habenula, a brain region that is overactive in MDD. Preliminary data also show a higher ratio of GRIN2B/2A, genes that code for NMDA receptor subtypes, in the dentate gyrus of the contingent trained group, a ratio that has been linked to flexible problem solving. Taken together, data from this study show that contingency training is associated with a shift from emotional vulnerability to emotional resilience, making it a potentially effective way to prevent disorders like MDD.