The effects of working memory training on enhancing hedonic processing to affective rewards in individuals with high social anhedonia

Anhedonia is a core feature of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia and is less responsive to antipsychotic medication. Little is known whether anhedonia could be alleviated by cognitive training. The present study aimed to examine whether hedonic deficits observed in individuals with high social anhedonia could be reduced by working memory (WM) training. Thirty-four individuals with high social anhedonia were randomly assigned to either a WM training group or a control group. The WM training group received 20 sessions of dual n-back task training for four weeks. The affective incentive delay task was administered in all participants before the training and one month later. The results showed that individuals who received the WM training showed significant improvement in WM performance (F(19, 304)=55.80, p<0.001) and they also showed significant improvement in approach sensitivity to rewards (p=0.004). These preliminary findings suggest that hedonic processing could be improved through WM training in individuals with high social anhedonia. These results may have important implications for the development of non-pharmacological interventions to alleviate anhedonia in patients with schizophrenia.