Model-based EEG phenotyping uncovers distinct neurocomputational mechanisms underlying learning impairments across psychopathologies

Background

Major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BP), and schizophrenia (SCZ) involve learning impairments with poorly understood mechanisms. Understanding both the similarities and differences in these mechanisms is important to guide the development of new, targeted interventions.

Methods

255 participants diagnosed with MDD (n=54), BP (n=47), SCZ (n=67) or without any diagnoses (CTRL; n=87) performed an associative learning task. Computational modeling quantified the mechanistic interplay between working memory (WM) and reinforcement learning (RL). The latent RL and WM signatures in the EEG dynamics showed shared and distinct neurocognitive mechanisms underlying learning.

Results

All clinical groups showed learning impairments at the behavioral level. Model-based EEG analyses linked these impairments to distinct patterns in the dynamic interplay between latent RL and WM mechanisms, contrasting with the typical patterns observed in CTRL. SCZ was characterized by reduced neural markers of WM, weakening the cooperative influence of WM onto RL (reduced WM recruitment), and reduced integration of negative feedback. Conversely, MDD was characterized by reduced reciprocal influence of RL onto WM, reducing the tendency to upregulate WM contribution with reward history (impaired WM management). Finally, BP was characterized by deficits in both WM and RL recruitment, along with higher WM decay.

Conclusions

Behavioral learning impairments that appear similar across clinical groups can be linked to distinct neurocognitive mechanisms via integrative neurocomputational modeling. Our approach provides insights into the interplay of underlying learning mechanisms and how they manifest differently across psychopathologies.

Citation

This manuscript is a preprint version of the later manuscript accepted for publication in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science . The content may differ from the final published version following peer review and editorial revisions.

Ging-Jehli, N.R., Rac-Lubashevsky, R., Bera, K., Roberts, A., Loder, A., Boudewyn, M.A., Carter, C.S., Erickson, M., Gold, J., Luck, S.J., Ragland, J.D., Yonelinas, A.P., MacDonald III, A.W., Barch, D.M., & Frank, M.J. (2025). Model-based EEG phenotyping uncovers distinct neurocomputational mechanisms underlying learning impairments across psychopathologies. Preprint at bioRxiv.