Initial Responsiveness to Reward Attainment and Psychopathology in Children and Adults: An RDoC Study

Reward Functioning in General and Specific Psychopathology in Children and Adults

OBJECTIVE

Problems with reward processing have been implicated in multiple psychiatric disorders, but psychiatric comorbidities are common and their specificity to individual psychopathologies is unknown. Here, we evaluate the association between reward functioning and general or specific psychopathologies.

METHOD

1,213 adults and their1,531 children (ages 6-12) completed various measures of the Positive Valence System domain from the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). Psychopathology was assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist for children and the Adult Self Report for parents.

RESULTS

One general factor identified via principal factors factor analysis explained most variance in psychopathology in both groups. Measures of reward were associated with the general factor and most specific psychopathologies. Certain reward constructs were associated solely with specific psychopathologies but not general psychopathology. However, some prior associations between reward and psychopathology did not hold following removal of comorbidity.

CONCLUSION

Reward dysfunction is significantly associated with both general and specific psychopathologies.

Experimental models in psychopathology research: The relation between Research Domain Criteria and Experimental Psychopathology

Experimental Psychopathology (EPP) and the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) are research approaches that have developed in parallel, providing inter-related yet different scientific frameworks to investigate psychopathology at the intersection of fundamental and applied research. Here we address the overlap and differences between RDoC and EPP, and the challenges that both approaches face. Although overlap between EPP and RDoC can be clearly observed, each approach has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. These aspects will be illustrated by examples with respect to fear conditioning, an experimental procedure that has played a central role in both EPP and RDoC. We see much potential in boosting psychopathology research by combining the strengths of these two approaches.