CogSci 2025

•

August 02, 2025

•

San Francisco, United States

keywords:

emotion disorder

cognitive neuroscience

social cognition

computational modeling

decision making

Depression affects everyday decision-making, yet it remains unclear if such effects depend on the decision context or fluctuate over time. In this repeated-measures study, online participants completed a social exchange task (ultimatum game) and a non-social reversal learning task at baseline (n=236) and 1-month later (n=131). Mood symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory and the Positive Valence System Scale. Psychiatric symptoms were stable over time, and dropout was unrelated to symptom severity. Mixed-effects regression revealed consistent behavioral effects of depressive symptoms—while controlling for anhedonia—across time points. Specifically, greater depressive severity predicted slower reaction times and reduced acceptance of unfair offers in the ultimatum game. An interaction between depressive and anhedonic symptoms on mood ratings emerged at baseline but did not replicate at follow-up. There were no consistent significant effects of depression on the non-social reversal learning task across time points. These findings highlight the longitudinal stability of depressive symptoms on social decision-making.

Downloads

PaperTranscript English (automatic)

Next from CogSci 2025

Heterogeneity in Loss Aversion Estimates across Modeling Approaches
technical paper

Heterogeneity in Loss Aversion Estimates across Modeling Approaches

CogSci 2025

Akhil Abburu and 2 other authors

31 July 2025

Similar lecture