Depression is associated with a persistent depressed mood and/or a loss of motivation and pleasure in (almost) all activities. Previous research has shown that individuals with a

depression also show differences compared to non-depressed persons with related to reward-based decision-making. Much of this research is based on tasks in which individuals learn about reward-associated stimuli or a have to choose between two or more options. In everyday life, many of our choices are about reward-associated stimuli also about how long we stay with a certain option or a certain action until it is no longer worth it and it is better to switch to a

other available option for greater “efficiency”. In this study, we wanted to investigate whether individual differences in mood and motivation in a healthy population influence individuals’ decisions about how long to stay with one option and when to switch to others available options. In addition, we are interested in how people use information about the (decreasing) value of the current option and the average value of available alternative options to decide when to switch from the current option to an alternative.

If you want more information regarding this project, please contact me at: Lais.Razza@UGent.be.