Editorial: Evidence for Transactional Relations Between Reward Processing and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence

Abstract

Reward processing deficits play a clear role in depression and depression risk. For example, more than a decade of research has shown that individual differences in initial reward responsiveness, indexed by the reward positivity (RewP) event-related potential (ERP) component, are associated with current depression and future depression risk.^1,2 Mackin and colleagues' study³ builds on this previous literature by asking 2 key questions: (1) Is the magnitude of the impact of RewP on prospective changes in depressive symptoms similar during late childhood and adolescence? and (2) Are prospective links between RewP and depressive symptoms transactional, with depressive symptoms also predicting future change in RewP during this developmental window? These questions are important, because this is a time period during which rates of depression increase dramatically⁴ and when there are normative changes in reward processing.⁵ However, we know very little about how relations between reward processing and depression may change across development.