抑郁症患者社交奖赏环路功能变化的研究进展

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-8115.2026.05.011

摘要/Abstract

摘要：

抑郁症患者普遍存在不同程度的社会功能障碍，其病理机制可能与社交奖赏系统的异常密切相关。近年来，社交奖赏环路的研究视角已从单一脑区功能缺陷逐步拓展至多脑区协同失调，研究者借助多模态神经影像与计算建模等技术，开始关注大规模脑网络与奖赏环路在预期、体验和学习3个阶段中的动态交互模式，以及环路靶点神经调控等热点问题。该文总结抑郁症患者社交奖赏环路的功能异常表现，基于奖赏预期、体验和学习3个阶段，阐述局部脑区功能损伤-网络协同失调的双重机制模型在其中的动态表现，为抑郁症患者社会功能障碍的潜在神经机制研究，以及临床治疗策略的优化（如针对特定阶段或特定环路的精准神经调控），提供理论依据。

关键词: 抑郁症, 社交奖赏, 神经机制, 局部脑区功能损伤, 脑网络协同失调

Abstract:

Patients with major depressive disorder commonly exhibit varying degrees of social dysfunction, whose pathological mechanisms may be closely associated with abnormalities in the social reward system.In recent years, research on social reward circuitry has shifted from a focus on localized functional deficits to a systematic perspective of dysregulation across multiple brain regions. Using multimodal neuroimaging and computational modeling approaches, researchers have begun to explore the dynamic interaction patterns between large-scale brain networks and reward circuitry across the three phases of anticipation, consumption, and learning, as well as emerging topics such as circuit-targeted neuromodulation.This review systematically summarizes the functional abnormalities in the social reward circuitry of patients with major depressive disorder, exploring the potential dual mechanisms involving localized functional impairments of key brain regions and network-level dysregulation across three distinct phases of reward processing: anticipation, consumption, and learning, and elaborates the dynamic manifestation of a dual-mechanism model of local brain region functional impairment-network coordination dysregulation during these phases. The review may provide theoretical foundations for understanding the neural substrates underlying social dysfunction in depression and for optimizing clinical treatment strategies, such as precise neuromodulation targeting specific phases or specific circuits.

Key words: depressive disorder, social reward, neural mechanism, functional impairments of local brain regions, dysregulation of brain networks

中图分类号:

R749.4

黄嘉萱, 周儒白, 张慧凤, 彭代辉. 抑郁症患者社交奖赏环路功能变化的研究进展[J]. 上海交通大学学报（医学版）, 2026, 46(5): 651-655.

Huang Jiaxuan, Zhou Rubai, Zhang Huifeng, Peng Daihui. Advances in studies of altered social reward circuitry in major depressive disorder[J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Medical Science), 2026, 46(5): 651-655.

参考文献 44

[1]	Kessler R C, Berglund P, Demler O, et al. The epidemiology of major depressive disorder: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R)[J]. JAMA, 2003, 289(23): 3095-3105.
[2]	Gooding D C, Pflum M. The transdiagnostic nature of social anhedonia: historical and current perspectives[J]. Curr Top Behav Neurosci, 2022, 58: 381-395.
[3]	Wonch K E, de Medeiros C B, Barrett J A, et al. Postpartum depression and brain response to infants: differential amygdala response and connectivity[J]. Soc Neurosci, 2016, 11(6): 600-617.
[4]	Jack A, Sullivan C A W, Aylward E, et al. A neurogenetic analysis of female autism[J]. Brain, 2021, 144(6): 1911-1926.
[5]	Vanova M, Aldridge-Waddon L, Puzzo I, et al. Neural correlates of reward processing: impact of individual differences in preference for prosocial interactions[J]. Brain Behav, 2025, 15(9): e70776.
[6]	Heerey E A, Clerke A S, Johnson N J, et al. The subjective value of genuine smiles guides real-world social behaviour[J]. PLoS One, 2024, 19(6): e0304726.
[7]	Schmuck J, Voltz E, Gibbons H. You′re beautiful when you smile: event-related brain potential (ERP) evidence of early opposite-gender bias in happy faces[J]. Brain Sci, 2024, 14(8): 739.
[8]	Hertz U, Tyropoulou E, Traberg C, et al. Self-competence increases the willingness to pay for social influence[J]. Sci Rep, 2020, 10(1): 17813.
[9]	Schultz W. Reward functions of the basal ganglia[J]. J Neural Transm, 2016, 123(7): 679-693.
[10]	Somerville L H, Heatherton T F, Kelley W M. Anterior cingulate cortex responds differentially to expectancy violation and social rejection[J]. Nat Neurosci, 2006, 9(8): 1007-1008.
[11]	Amting J M, Miller J E, Chow M, et al. Getting mixed messages: the impact of conflicting social signals on the brain′s target emotional response[J]. Neuroimage, 2009, 47(4): 1950-1959.
[12]	Pannu A, Goyal R K. The potential role of dopamine pathways in the pathophysiology of depression: current advances and future aspects[J]. CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets, 2025, 24(5): 340-352.
[13]	Pool E R, Munoz Tord D, Delplanque S, et al. Differential contributions of ventral striatum subregions to the motivational and hedonic components of the affective processing of reward[J]. J Neurosci, 2022, 42(13): 2716-2728.
[14]	Wallis J D. Reward[M]//Miller B L, Cummings J L. The frontal lobes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019: 281-294.
[15]	Seitz K I, Ueltzhöffer K, Rademacher L, et al. Your smile won′t affect me: association between childhood maternal antipathy and adult neural reward function in a transdiagnostic sample[J]. Transl Psychiatry, 2023, 13(1): 70.
[16]	Singh T, Williams K. Atypical depression[J]. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 2006, 3(4): 33-39.
[17]	Dobryakova E, Smith D V. Reward enhances connectivity between the ventral striatum and the default mode network[J]. Neuroimage, 2022, 258: 119398.
[18]	Javaheripour N, Li M, Chand T, et al. Altered resting-state functional connectome in major depressive disorder: a mega-analysis from the PsyMRI consortium[J]. Transl Psychiatry, 2021, 11(1): 511.
[19]	Ikemoto S. Brain reward circuitry beyond the mesolimbic dopamine system: a neurobiological theory[J]. Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 2010, 35(2): 129-150.
[20]	He Z H, Zhang D D, Muhlert N, et al. Neural substrates for anticipation and consumption of social and monetary incentives in depression[J]. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 2019, 14(8): 815-826.
[21]	LeMoult J, Kircanski K, Prasad G, et al. Negative self-referential processing predicts the recurrence of major depressive episodes[J]. Clin Psychol Sci, 2017, 5(1): 174-181.
[22]	Ren X, White E J, Nacke M, et al. Blunted stimulus-preceding negativity during reward anticipation in major depressive disorder[J]. J Affect Disord, 2024, 362: 779-787.
[23]	Keren, O′Callaghan G, Vidal-Ribas P, et al. Reward processing in depression: a conceptual and meta-analytic review across fMRI and EEG studies[J]. Am J Psychiatry, 2018, 175(11): 1111-1120.
[24]	Taylor C T, Stein M B, Simmons A N, et al. Amplification of positivity treatment for anxiety and depression: a randomized experimental therapeutics trial targeting social reward sensitivity to enhance social connectedness[J]. Biol Psychiatry, 2024, 95(5): 434-443.
[25]	Frey A L, McCabe C. Impaired social learning predicts reduced real-life motivation in individuals with depression: a computational fMRI study[J]. J Affect Disord, 2020, 263: 698-706.
[26]	Shields G S, Vinograd M, Bui T, et al. Heightened neural activity and functional connectivity responses to social rejection in female adolescents at risk for depression: testing the Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression[J]. J Affect Disord, 2024, 345: 467-476.
[27]	He Z H, Ao X, Muhlert N, et al. Neural substrates of expectancy violation associated with social feedback in individuals with subthreshold depression[J]. Psychol Med, 2022, 52(11): 2043-2051.
[28]	Palacios-Barrios E E, Hanson J L, Barry K R, et al. Lower neural value signaling in the prefrontal cortex is related to childhood family income and depressive symptomatology during adolescence[J]. Dev Cogn Neurosci, 2021, 48: 100920.
[29]	Ng T H, Alloy L B, Smith D V. Meta-analysis of reward processing in major depressive disorder reveals distinct abnormalities within the reward circuit[J]. Transl Psychiatry, 2019, 9(1): 293.
[30]	Morgan J K, Ambrosia M, Forbes E E, et al. Maternal response to child affect: role of maternal depression and relationship quality[J]. J Affect Disord, 2015, 187: 106-113.
[31]	Chu Z S, Yuan L J, He M X, et al. Atrophy of bilateral nucleus accumbens in melancholic depression[J]. Neuroreport, 2023, 34(10): 493-500.
[32]	Sankar A, Yttredahl A A, Fourcade E W, et al. Dissociable neural responses to monetary and social gain and loss in women with major depressive disorder[J]. Front Behav Neurosci, 2019, 13: 149.
[33]	Willinger D, Häberling I, Ilioska I, et al. Weakened effective connectivity between salience network and default mode network during resting state in adolescent depression[J]. Front Psychiatry, 2024, 15: 1386984.
[34]	Perini I, Gustafsson P A, Hamilton J P, et al. Brain-based classification of negative social bias in adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury: findings from simulated online social interaction[J]. EClinicalMedicine, 2019, 13: 81-90.
[35]	Phillips J M, Kambi N A, Redinbaugh M J, et al. Disentangling the influences of multiple thalamic nuclei on prefrontal cortex and cognitive control[J]. Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 2021, 128: 487-510.
[36]	Greening S G, Osuch E A, Williamson P C, et al. Emotion-related brain activity to conflicting socio-emotional cues in unmedicated depression[J]. J Affect Disord, 2013, 150(3): 1136-1141.
[37]	Haber S N, Knutson B. The reward circuit: linking primate anatomy and human imaging[J]. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2010, 35(1): 4-26.
[38]	Pisoni A, Davis S W, Smoski M. Neural signatures of saliency-mapping in anhedonia: a narrative review[J]. Psychiatry Res, 2021, 304: 114123.
[39]	Schirru M, Véronneau-Veilleux F, Nekka F, et al. Phasic dopamine changes and hebbian mechanisms during probabilistic reversal learning in striatal circuits: a computational study[J]. Int J Mol Sci, 2022, 23(7): 3452.
[40]	Metcalfe J, Schwartz B L, Eich T S. Epistemic curiosity and the region of proximal learning[J]. Curr Opin Behav Sci, 2020, 35: 40-47.
[41]	Yang X, Su Y Y, Yang F, et al. Neurofunctional mapping of reward anticipation and outcome for major depressive disorder: a voxel-based meta-analysis[J]. Psychol Med, 2022, 52(15): 3309-3322.
[42]	Tsukiura T, Cabeza R. Orbitofrontal and hippocampal contributions to memory for face-name associations: the rewarding power of a smile[J]. Neuropsychologia, 2008, 46(9): 2310-2319.
[43]	Li X Q, Wang J J. Abnormal neural activities in adults and youths with major depressive disorder during emotional processing: a meta-analysis[J]. Brain Imaging Behav, 2021, 15(2): 1134-1154.
[44]	Li L, Durand-de Cuttoli R, Aubry A V, et al. Social trauma engages lateral septum circuitry to occlude social reward[J]. Nature, 2023, 613(7945): 696-703.