Motivational enhancement of cognitive control depends on depressive symptoms

Abstract

Performance feedback can motivate improvements in executive function (Ravizza, Goudreau, Delgado, & Ruiz, 2012). The present study examines whether the enhancement of task switching with performance feedback is modulated by the level of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms have been linked to deficits in processing affective information inherent to such feedback (Henriques, Glowacki, & Davidson, 1994; Pizzagalli, Jahn, & O'Shea, 2005). Task switching speed was assessed when performance feedback about accuracy was present or absent in a group of participants with minimal to moderate levels of depression. A significant positive correlation was observed between depressive symptoms and feedback effects on executive function indicating that those with lower depressive symptoms were more likely to show improvements in switching speed when performance feedback was present. These results suggest a novel link between executive function deficits and depression symptoms; namely, that greater levels of depressive symptoms are linked to diminished executive functioning via deficits in processing the affective component of performance feedback.

Figure 1

Example of the task paradigm. Participants switched between making color and shape judgments with or without feedback about accuracy. Performance feedback was blocked across the experiment.

Figure 2

The relationship of self-reported depression and the improvement in shift cost with feedback (Shift cost in no feedback condition – shift cost in feedback condition). Note that we are presenting shift cost in ms for illustrative purposes although correlations were performed on shift cost between log-transformed RTs.