Large, Highly Likely Rewards Can Increase Motivation in Individuals Who Have Recovered from Depression

New research shows that individuals who have recovered from depression are generally less willing to exert effort to pursue potential rewards compared to those who have never experienced depression, unless the rewards are large and highly likely. A new study opens in new tab/window in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging opens in new tab/window, published by Elsevier, provides deeper insights into subtle motivational deficits that persist in individuals who have recovered from depression, potentially explaining relapse vulnerability and guiding targeted treatment for sustained recovery and overall patient well-being.

Individuals who have experienced depression in the past are often at a higher risk of experiencing another depressive episode. Despite improvements in mood after recovery from depression, they continue to exhibit some cognitive and motivational deficits, such as alterations in reward processing, impairing daily activities and functional recovery. The reasons behind this remain unclear. Researchers of the current study wanted to better understand the hidden processes in decision-making and motivation that might contribute to relapse vulnerability and identify ways to help people stay healthy after recovering from depression.

Lead investigator Diego A. Pizzagalli, PhD, formerly Center for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Research, McLean Hospital (Belmont, MA) and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, now Founding Director, Noel Drury, MD, Institute for Translational Depression Discoveries, Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior & Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Noel Drury MD Endowed Chair, University of California at Irvine, says, ”Imagine an everyday scenario: deciding whether to meet a friend after work or simply stay home because going out feels too exhausting. Individuals with a history of depression might more often opt for the less effortful choice—staying home—missing out on rewarding experiences and social interactions. Over time, repeatedly choosing the low-effort path could unintentionally reinforce behaviors or thought patterns that increase the risk of falling back into depression."

The research entailed asking individuals who had previously experienced depression (but have recovered and are not currently using medication) and a group of participants who had never experienced depression to make a series of choices between low-effort tasks with smaller rewards and high-effort tasks with potentially larger rewards. Given evidence that antidepressants can blunt reward-related neural processes, only unmedicated individuals with remitted major depressive disorder were included to minimize potential confounding effects.

Choices were then analyzed using computational methods to understand motivation and decision-making. The most significant results showed that recovered individuals generally preferred less effortful options, but notably, they became equally or even more motivated than healthy individuals when rewards were large and highly certain. This suggests that while motivation may be reduced in everyday tasks, providing clear and highly valuable incentives can effectively boost motivation in individuals with a history of depression.

Editor-in-Chief of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Cameron S. Carter, MD, University of California Irvine, notes, "Reduced motivation is a core feature of depression. Utilizing the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task test, researchers examined how individuals weigh the potential benefits of rewards against the cognitive or physical effort required to obtain them, providing valuable insights into motivational processes underlying major depressive disorder. The findings from this study suggest a nuanced picture of decision-making in recovered depression, highlighting conditions under which motivation may actually surpass typical levels."

First author Manuel Kuhn, PhD, Center for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Research, McLean Hospital (Belmont, MA) and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, concludes, "This research is novel because it applies advanced computational modeling techniques, allowing us to identify latent decision-making processes—such as how reward magnitude and effort cost are integrated—that conventional analytical methods have not yet been able to uncover. This is particularly important now, as it provides deeper insights into subtle motivational deficits that persist in individuals who have recovered from depression, potentially explaining their vulnerability to relapse triggers. By pinpointing these underlying motivational mechanisms, our findings can inform the development of more targeted treatments designed to enhance sustained recovery and overall patient well-being."

Notes for editors

The article is "Computational Phenotyping of Effort-Based Decision Making in Unmedicated Adults with Remitted Depression," by Manuel Kuhn, Emma H. Palermo, Guillaume Pagnier, Jacob, M. Blank, David C. Steinberger, Yinru Long, Genevieve Nowicki, Jessica A. Cooper, Michael T. Treadway, Michael J. Frank, and Diego A. Pizzagalli (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.02.006 opens in new tab/window). It appears online in advance of volume 10, issue 6 (June 2025) of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging opens in new tab/window, published by Elsevier.

The article is openly available for 30 days at https://www.biologicalpsychiatrycnni.org/article/S2451-9022(25)00063-1/fulltext opens in new tab/window.

Copies of this paper are also available to credentialed journalists upon request; please contact Rhiannon Bugno at [email protected] opens in new tab/window. Journalists wishing to interview the study’s authors should contact:

McLean Hospital

Ryan Jaslow, Program Director, External Communications at Mass General Brigham, at [email protected] opens in new tab/window

University of California Irvine

Ethan Perez,Director of Marketing & Communications, Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences, at +1 949 824 6282 or [email protected] opens in new tab/window

Matt Miller, Director of Communication, School of Medicine, at [email protected] opens in new tab/window

The authors’ affiliations and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interest are available in the article.

Cameron S. Carter, MD, is Chair of the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interest are available here opens in new tab/window.

The present work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health grants P50MH119467 and R01 4R37MH068376-17.

About Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging

Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging opens in new tab/window is an official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry opens in new tab/window, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal focuses on studies using the tools and constructs of cognitive neuroscience, including the full range of non-invasive neuroimaging and human extra- and intracranial physiological recording methodologies. It publishes both basic and clinical studies, including those that incorporate genetic data, pharmacological challenges, and computational modeling approaches. The 2023 Journal Impact Factor^TM score, from Clarivate, for Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging is 5.7. www.sobp.org/bpcnni opens in new tab/window

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