Reward processing and depression: Current findings and future directions

Depressive disorders are common and impairing and are currently the leading contributor to the global disease burden. Over the past decade, dysfunction in neural processing of rewards has emerged as one of the most promising biological markers for the development of depressive disorders due to the role of reward processing in reward learning and in emotions central to depressive disorders. Despite this, depressive disorders are still defined by self-reported symptoms and behavior, and research has begun to focus on identifying the pathophysiology of the disorder. The current chapter reviews relevant theory implicating reward-processing deficits in depressive disorders. We also review select behavioral, electroencephalography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that investigate the association between reward-processing deficits and depression risk, symptoms, and disorders, both concurrently and prospectively. An overview of a more recent line of research examining the influence of stressful life events on the link between atypical reward processing and depression is also provided. Finally, we make suggestions for future directions in research investigating the role of reward processing in depressive disorders.