Perseverative cognition alters the functionality of positive valence systems: an investigation with a multimodal approach.

Growing evidence suggests that perseverative cognition (PC), a form of cognition characterized by repetitive, intrusive and uncontrollable thoughts, is a transdiagnostic risk factor for different psychiatric disorders. Although PC characterizes both hypo-motivational (e.g., depression) and hyper-motivational (e.g., addiction) disorders, it has been almost exclusively studied within the context of the negative valence systems and only anecdotal evidence exists about its effects on reward processing. The present study aims to fill this gap by combining laboratory-based, computational and ecological assessments. Healthy individuals performed the Probabilistic Reward Task (PRT) before and after the induction of PC (n = 24) or a waiting period (n = 22). Computational modeling was applied to dissociate the effects of PC on reward sensitivity and learning rate. Afterwards, all participants underwent a one-week Ecological Momentary Assessment of real-life occurrence of PC, as well as anticipatory and consummatory reward-related behavior. Induction of PC led to increased response bias on the PRT compared to waiting, likely due to an increase in learning rate but not in reward sensitivity, as suggested by computational modeling. In daily-life, PC increased reward prediction error, i.e., the discrepancy between expected and obtained reward. The current converging experimental and ecological evidence suggests that PC alters the functionality of positive valence systems in multiple -related- behavioral domains, pointing to a more fine-grained research on this topic. Given the role of PC in the prediction, maintenance, and recurrence of psychopathology, it would be clinically valuable to investigate neurobiological alterations underpinning reward processing dysfunctions during PC.