Reward insensitivity is a potential key mechanism regarding the maintenance of depression. However, there is a lack of research examining and comparing the effectiveness of different psychological interventions in modifying reward insensitivity. This four-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigated a two-week online intervention. After screening for eligibility, a total of 336 participants were randomized, and 224 participated per-protocol. Participants were assigned to either a) behavioral activation, b) mindfulness and gratitude, c) a combination of both, or d) a waitlist control condition. They received videos and implemented daily exercises. Reward sensitivity and depressive symptoms served as primary outcomes. Behavioral activation and mindfulness significantly improved depressive symptoms and reward sensitivity. However, the effects of behavioral activation were not superior. The combination treatment versus the waiting group was insignificant regarding reward insensitivity. Explorative analyses revealed that all intervention groups reduced anhedonia substantially. Our findings imply that brief online interventions with behavioral activation and mindfulness-based approaches can impact reward insensitivity, while effects for a combination were less clear. Nonetheless, our results do not allow us to infer the differential effectiveness of the interventions. There is a clear need for treatments better targeting maintaining factors of depression, such as reward insensitivity. Clinical trial registration number: NCT05402150.

The study of food addiction (FA) has become relevant due to its high prevalence, the negative impact on quality of life, and its association with neuropsychological and psychiatric symptoms. Several studies have provided scientific support for these associations, however, the results are contradictory. Additionally, studies have unsuccessfully elucidated the true nature of the failures in executive functioning in people with FA symptomatology, particularly when it comes to executive deficits. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to establish whether the presence of executive dysfunction, depressive symptoms and binge eating problems, as well as high reward sensitivity entails a greater severity in FA traits and high body mass index (BMI) in a sample of Mexican adults.
The sample consisted of Mexican men and women between 21-59 years (n = 36); who completed self-report questionnaires and performance tests to measure the study variables. Additionally, BMI was estimated with self-reported height and weight.
Our results showed that a high number of FA symptoms were associated with higher executive dysfunction scores, greater reward sensitivity, and more severe depressive and binge eating problems. Furthermore, factors that are more strongly associated with higher scores of FA include severe executive deficits, greater activation of the punishment avoidance system, and persistence in the search for reward when the depressive symptoms increased. The factors that best explained changes in the estimated BMI of women were a decreased crystallized intellectual capacity and the inability to control food intake as the number of FA symptoms increased.
In summary, the cognitive functioning profile characterized by general failure of the executive functioning, as well as a greater activation of the Punishment Avoidance System and persistence in the search for reward, were associated with greater severity of FA symptoms, especially when the depressive symptomatology was severe. In parallel, the psychopathology in participants associated with FA confirms the contribution of anxious and depressive symptomatology and borderline personality traits which could facilitate the expression of clinically relevant FA symptoms in women. Finally, we found that decreased crystallized intellectual capacity and inability to control food intake were linked to higher BMI when the number of FA symptoms increased.

BACKGROUND: Affiliating with delinquent peers may stimulate the development of antisocial behavior, especially for adolescents who are sensitive to social rewards. The current study examines whether the association between delinquent peer affiliation (DPA) and disruptive behavior interacts with functional brain correlates of reward sensitivity in early onset male adolescents delinquents.
METHODS: Childhood arrestees (n = 126, mean age = 17.7 [s.d. 1.6]) completed a DPA questionnaire, and participated in an fMRI study in which reward sensitivity was operationalized through responsiveness of the ventral striatum (VS), amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during the monetary incentive delay paradigm (reward anticipation and outcome). Symptoms of disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) were assessed through structured psychiatric interviews (Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children) with adolescents.
RESULTS: DPA had a main effect on DBD symptoms. Adolescents with high VS reward responses showed a stronger significant positive association between DPA and DBD symptoms compared to low VS responders. No evidence for an interaction effect was found for the amygdala and mPFC. Post-hoc analyses revealed the positive association between DPA and DBD was only present in males, with a diminishing effect as age increased.
CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence for a biosocial interaction between DPA and reward sensitivity of the VS in relation to DBD symptom severity. This study provides the first evidence of an interaction effect between a brain mechanism and an environmental factor in relation to DBD symptoms, implying that susceptibility to influences of delinquent peers may intertwine with individual biological differences.

Robust reward sensitivity may help preserve mental well-being in the face of adversity and has been proposed as a key stress resilience factor. Here, we present a mobile health application, \"Imager,\" which targets reward sensitivity by training individuals to create mental images of future rewarding experiences. We conducted a two-arm randomized controlled trial with 95 participants screened for reward sensitivity. Participants in the intervention group received an ecological momentary intervention-Imager, which encouraged participants to create mental images of rewarding events for 1 week. The control group participants received only ecological momentary assessment, without the instruction to generate mental images. Adherence to Imager was high; participants in the intervention group engaged in 88% of the planned activities. In the follow-up assessment, the intervention group reported less mental health symptoms, mainly in depression (β = -0.34, df = 93, p = .004) and less perceived stress (β = -0.18, df = 93, p = .035), than control group participants and compared with the baseline assessment. Our results show the positive effects of Imager on mental health symptoms. The encouraging effects of the app on mental health outcomes may lead to greater use of ecological momentary interventions in the clinical preventive practice of affective disorders.

The present study examined facets of impulsivity and reward sensitivity [as measured by the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale and Behavioral Activation and Behavioral Inhibition Scales (BIS/BAS)] as multivariable predictors of subsequent binge-eating disorder (BED) course of illness in middle childhood.
The current sample included children aged 9-10 years (N = 9,438) who took part in the baseline and 1-year follow-up assessments of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. BED course was operationalized as those who never developed BED or subthreshold BED (SBED) (\'control\'), were diagnosed with BED/SBED at year 1 but not baseline (\'developers\'), were diagnosed with BED/SBED at baseline but not year 1 (\'remitters\'), or were diagnosed with BED/SBED at both times (\'maintainers\').
Higher baseline BIS/BAS reward responsivity scores were related to the greater likelihood of belonging to the maintainer group relative to the control and remitter groups (ORs1.12-1.19). Regarding covariates, higher baseline body mass index percentile and internalizing symptoms were related to the greater likelihood of BED development, remittance, and maintenance compared to the control group (ORs = 1.04-1.14); no variables were uniquely related to BED development. Exploratory analyses showed that the likelihood of belonging to the maintainer group compared to the control group was greatest at higher levels of negative urgency in combination with high reward responsivity.
Heightened reward responsivity may convey risk for poorer BED course in children, while emotional disorder symptomatology may act as a more general risk and maintenance factor for BED.

Problematic smartphone use is highly prevalent in adolescent populations compared to other age groups (e.g., adults and young children). Previous studies suggested that higher levels of reward sensitivity were associated with problematic smartphone use. Therefore, the current study investigated the neural processing of monetary and social reward and punishment feedbacks between high and low problematic smartphone use adolescents.
46 adolescents participated in the current study and they were categorized into two groups based on their level of problematic smartphone use: those who obtained low scores on the measure of problematic smartphone use were categorized as Low Problematic Smartphone Use (LPSU), and those who obtained high scores on the measure of problematic smartphone use were categorized as High Problematic Smartphone Use (HPSU). Electrocortical activities were recorded during the processing of monetary and social reward and punishment feedback.
(1) LPSUs evoked larger P3 in the social punishment condition than in the monetary punishment condition. HPSUs evoked larger P3 in the social reward condition than in the monetary condition. (2) The feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitudes in the reward condition were significantly larger than those in the punishment condition. (3) HPSUs induced larger reward positivity in social feedback conditions than in monetary feedback conditions, while there were no significant differences between the two types of conditions in the LPSUs.
The results provide neural underpinning evidence that high sensitivity to social rewards may be related to problematic smartphone use in adolescence.

Food cues in the environment may contribute to obesity as the consumption of unhealthy foods may reinforce reward pathways in the brain. To understand how person-level differences in reward sensitivity may be associated with diet quality, this study aimed to examine the moderating role of the availability of fast food in the environment on the relationship between reward sensitivity and diet quality in adolescents. Participants (n = 152; 55% female; Mage: 12.5 ± 0.93 y) completed the drive and reward subscales of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)/Behavioral Activation System (BAS) Scale to assess reward sensitivity and completed two 24 h dietary recalls from which Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores (total score and subscales of adequacy and moderation) were calculated. Fast-food environment (FFE) was operationalized as the total number of fast-food outlets within 1 km around participants\' home address. Linear regressions were used to examine the main effects and interactions between reward sensitivity and FFE in relation to HEI score. Interactions were found between FFE and BAS drive (p = 0.02) and BAS reward (p < 0.01) on HEI adequacy. There were no interaction effects on HEI moderation or HEI total scores. For individuals who had lower access exposure to fast-food outlets (-1 SD), there was a stronger positive association between higher BAS drive (t = 2.85, p = 0.01, 95% CI (0.35, 1.94)) and HEI adequacy scores and between higher BAS reward (t = 3.27, p > 0.01, 95% CI (0.72, 2.93)) and HEI adequacy scores. By examining reward sensitivity to potential food cues in residential neighborhood food environments, it is possible to understand which adolescents are more sensitive to environmental food cues and implement interventions to buffer these influences.

It is thought that just as hunger itself, the expectancy to eat impacts attention and cognitive control toward food stimuli, but this theory has not been extensively explored at a behavioral level. In order to study the effect of expectancy to eat on attentional and cognitive control mechanisms, 63 healthy fasting participants were presented with an affective priming spatial compatibility Simon task that included both food and object (non-food) distracters. The participants (N = 63) were randomly assigned to two groups: an \"immediate expectancy\" group made up of participants who expected to eat immediately after the task (N = 31; females = 21; age = 26.8 ± 9.6) and a \"delayed expectancy\" cohort made up of individuals who expected to eat a few hours later (N = 32; females = 21; age = 25.0 ± 8.0). Slower reaction times (RTs) toward the food and non-food distracters and a more pronounced effect on the RTs in the incompatible condition [i.e., the Simon effect (SE)] were noted in both groups. The effect of the food and non-food distracters on the RTs was more pronounced in the immediate with respect to the delayed expectancy group. The magnitude of the SE for the food and the non-food distracters was also greater in the immediate with respect to the delayed expectancy group. These results seem to indicate that when the expectancy to eat is short, the RTs are delayed, and the SE is more pronounced when food and non-food distracters are presented. Instead, when the expectancy to eat is more distant, the distracters have less of an effect on the RTs and the correspondence effect is smaller. Our results suggest that the expectancy to eat can modulate both attention orienting and cognitive control mechanisms in healthy fasting individuals when distracting details are competing with information processing during goal directed behavior.

One factor potentially contributing to obesity is reward sensitivity. We investigated the association between reward sensitivity and measures of obesity from 9-33 years of age, paying attention to the inner structure of reward sensitivity.
The sample included both birth cohorts (originally n = 1176) of the Estonian Children Personality Behaviour and Health Study. The association between reward sensitivity and measures of obesity was assessed using mixed-effects regression models. Associations at ages 9 (younger cohort only), 15, 18, 25 and 33 (older cohort) years were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. The indirect effect of the gene encoding transcription factor 2 beta (TFAP2B) on obesity through reward sensitivity was tested using mediation analysis.
According to linear mixed effects regression models, an increase in scores of Insatiability by Reward and both of its components, Excessive Spending and Giving in to Cravings, significantly increased body weight, body mass index, sum of five skinfolds, waist circumference, hip circumference and waist-to-height ratio from 15 to 25 years of age. Findings were similar at age 9 and 33 years. In contrast, no association between obesity and Openness to Rewards or its facets was observed. The TFAP2B genotype was also associated with fixation to rewards in females, but not with striving towards reward multiplicity.
Our results suggest that reward sensitivity is associated with obesity by its reward fixation component. The heterogeneity of the reward sensitivity construct should be taken into account in studies on body composition.

Objective: This article aims to assess whether individual differences in reward sensitivity can be used to predict which children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) will benefit most from behavioral interventions that include reinforcement. Methods: A 12-week behavioral intervention was offered to 21 children with ADHD and their parents. Reward sensitivity was assessed prior to the intervention using a combination of psychological and physiological measures. ADHD symptoms were assessed pre- and posttreatment using the Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD and Normal behavior (SWAN) rating scale. Results: Lower scores on one of the questionnaire scales were associated with greater pre/posttreatment differences in ADHD symptoms. Conclusion: We found that pre/posttreatment change was associated with one measure of parent-rated reward sensitivity. Children with low impulsive negative behavior toward gaining reward improved most during treatment. This result suggests that aspects of reward-related behaviors in ADHD may be useful to predict the effectiveness of treatment.