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Exploring the Link Between a Prior Belief for Active Avoidance and Apathy, Anhedonia, and Depression:A Network Analysis
Granwald, Tobias Triolo, Federico Lengyel, M. Dayan, Peter Guitart-Masip, Marc
Granwald, Tobias
Triolo, Federico
Lengyel, M.
Dayan, Peter
Guitart-Masip, Marc
Title / Series / Name
Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
Publication Volume
11
Publication Issue
2
Pages
Editors
Keywords
Anhedonia
Bayesian
Depression
Learned helplessness
Network analysis
Prior
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Cognitive Neuroscience
Neurology (clinical)
Biological Psychiatry
Bayesian
Depression
Learned helplessness
Network analysis
Prior
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Cognitive Neuroscience
Neurology (clinical)
Biological Psychiatry
Files
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Lengyel-Mate_2026.pdf
Adobe PDF, 609.68 KB
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/28865
Abstract
Background: Learned helplessness has been suggested as a mechanism through which anhedonia in depression is developed. It has been theorized that this stems from a generalized pessimistic prior belief about the probability of success when attempting to actively avoid negative outcomes, thereby resulting in apathy and reduced motivation. However, how such a prior belief may relate to depression and apathy is unknown. Here, we leveraged a novel method based on cognitive tasks and Bayesian modeling to extract a reliable generalized prior belief expressing the probability with which negative outcomes are expected to be actively avoidable. Methods: We quantified this prior belief in 521 nonclinical participants. Then we used Bayesian network analysis to explore how the prior’s mean was related to total scores of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) depression scale, specific items of the PHQ-9, and 6 subscales measuring apathy, motivation, anhedonia, and emotional reactivity. Results: We found that the mean of the prior belief was positively related to the tendency to get motivated to initiate and maintain goal-directed actions as measured with the Apathy Motivation Index (AMI) and not hedonic capacity as measured by the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale. Moreover, the same reverse-coded behavioral apathy subscale in the AMI was related to the total score of the PHQ-9 independently of hedonic capacity. Finally, the prior belief itself was not directly linked to depressive symptoms or PHQ-9 total scores. Conclusions: These results indicate that our behavioral measure of helplessness is indirectly related to depressive symptoms through behavioral activation and independently of hedonic capacity.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2026-02
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.09.013