Reward Processing Alters the Time Perception Networks in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract Behavioral studies revealed that time perception is affected by the presence of a reward. Both the experience of time and the reward processing were shown to be distorted in major depressive disorder (MDD). We aimed to investigate how neural correlates of time perception and reward anticipation interact in patients with MDD. Participants (17 healthy, seven MDD) performed a time perception task during fMRI scanning that requires estimating the speed of a moving rectangle which was briefly occluded. In the control condition, participants attended to the change in color tone of the rectangle. Half of the runs were rewarded with a monetary payment per correctly done trial to evaluate the effect of a reward. The fMRI data were acquired with a 3T scanner and analyzed with repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPM12. The activations related to the integration of time with reward were different between both groups in the supplementary motor area, intraparietal sulcus, thalamus, frontal eye field and caudate nucleus. Increased coupling between supplementary motor area and caudate/putamen region during timing was found in MDD patients more than in controls. Overall, our findings suggest that functional differences related to the interaction of time perception with reward anticipation in MDD occur via dysfunction of the cortico-striatal-thalamic network.