{
  "id": 10717899,
  "title": "Dissociable roles of reward prediction error in the contrasting mood dynamics of depression and anxiety",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/dissociable-roles-of-reward-prediction-error-in-the-contrasting-mood",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "eLife",
    "slug": "elife",
    "url": "https://elifesciences.org/articles/110631"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Mood fluctuations, a fundamental aspect of human experience, are significantly impacted by reward prediction errors (RPE). While depression and anxiety typically display opposing mood patterns, their complex relationship has hindered the identification of their distinct roles in RPE-induced mood shifts. To address this, we conducted a study utilizing a computational model of momentary mood during a gambling task, engaging 2043 participants across five experiments. In addition, participants completed questionnaires aimed at differentiating anxiety- and depression-specific traits via bifactor modeling.\n\nOur findings indicated that depression was linked to reduced mood fluctuations due to an attenuated response to RPE. This pattern was also observed in individuals with affective disorders. Conversely, anxiety was associated with increased mood fluctuations resulting from heightened sensitivity to RPE in non-clinical individuals. Furthermore, the shared depression/anxiety component was connected to lower affective baseline and heightened risk aversion. In summary, our results reveal a computational dissociation between depression and anxiety using RPE-based mood modeling, establishing multi-dimensional computational signatures for these symptoms. These findings hold clinical significance for the management of mood disorders.",
  "summary": "Mood fluctuations, central to human experience, are profoundly influenced by reward prediction errors (RPE). Although depression and anxiety traditionally exhibit contrasting mood fluctuations, their interrelated nature has made it challenging to pinpoint their specific roles in RPE-induced mood variations. In this study, we employed a computational model of momentary mood within a gambling task,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}