Motivational and Consummatory Anhedonia Represent Distinct Affective and Behavioral Responses to Effortful and Rewarding Activities in Daily Life
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Anhedonia is a common psychiatric symptom defined as a loss of interest in or ability to enjoy previously rewarding activities. Although early definitions of anhedonia conceptualized it as a unitary construct, more recent formulations have emphasized the potential importance of distinguishing changes in motivation (motivational anhedonia; “MA”) from changes in hedonic capacity (consummatory anhedonia; “CA”). Evidence for these two domains has been derived from animal models highlighting distinct neurobiological pathways supporting motivational and hedonic responses, as well as human behavioral and pharmacological work highlighting distinct effects of these pathways on motivated and consummatory behavior. While this foundational work has been broadly supportive of the distinction between MA and CA, it remains unknown whether these two domains produce clinically meaningful differences in lived experience of daily activities. In the current work, we used an experience sampling approach in 162 adults (48.7% with current anhedonia as determined by clinical interview) to determine whether self-reported differences in MA and CA severity would be differentially associated with effort and reward levels of activities planned and completed in daily life. Consistent with the hypothesis that MA and CA are meaningful constructs, we observed markedly different associations with behavior in daily life. While elevated MA was associated with effort aversion, higher CA was associated with selective deficits in selecting rewarding activities. Moreover, symptoms of MA and CA were associated with distinct patterns of affective responses to levels of effort and reward in experienced activities. These data provide evidence for distinct manifestations of MA and CA in daily life and further support the hypothesis that they reflect distinct etiopathophysiologies that may benefit from different treatment strategies.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214716180