UCLA

Anhedonia is a transdiagnostic symptom characterized by the loss of the experience of pleasure from typically enjoyable activities. An established body of research has explored the impact of anhedonia on functioning and long-term outcomes in psychiatric populations, and emerging research has examined the role of anhedonia in adolescents with no psychiatric diagnosis. Anhedonia has been found to impact goal-directed behavior, reward processing, and future-oriented thinking. These behaviors are associated with cognitive abilities, which include both “hot” and “cold” cognition. These two cognitive systems develop throughout adolescence and are impacted in numerous psychiatric disorders. However, existing work has not provided a clear picture of how these pieces – anhedonia, adolescent development, and cognitive systems – fit together across diagnostic categories.

The goal of this dissertation, which comprises three studies, was to bridge this gap by providing an in-depth look at anhedonia across adolescence and early adulthood using a dimensional lens and multiple modalities, including self-report, task performance, and brain imaging. In Study 1, I investigated associations between subcategories of anhedonia and aspects of risk-taking behavior in university students using hierarchical linear regression. Individuals who experienced less anticipatory pleasure (i.e., looking forward to an activity) engaged in more risk-taking behavior. In Study 2, I expanded these findings by investigating relationships among anhedonia, risk-taking behavior, risk perception, and working memory in adolescents across a wider age range using linear regression and a moderation analysis. I replicated the positive association between anhedonia and risk-taking behavior and found a positive relationship between age and working memory performance. The hypothesized moderation model was not significant. In Study 3, I examined the associations among psychosis diagnosis, anhedonia, and white matter integrity in adolescents using linear regression and a linear mixed model. I found a significant group difference in a frontrostriatal tract associated with “hot” cognition, and a significant negative relationship between anhedonia and integrity in a white matter bundle associated with “cold” cognition. I highlight the need to continue exploring relationships among anhedonia, cognition, and white matter in adolescence. The implications of this work, including further illumination of the impact of anhedonia on functioning across diagnoses, are also discussed.