Seminar announcement: Nura Sidarus (London), 22 May 2025

Abstract

Depression has been associated with negatively biased cognitive styles, particularly negative self-attribution, i.e. increased self-attribution of negative outcomes and/or decreased self-attribution of positive outcomes; and negative self-evaluation, i.e. being underconfident. Since these (meta)cognitions concern one’s actions and their outcomes, these may be relevant to understanding alterations in value-based learning. We investigated this computationally, assessing how value-based learning may be influenced by different patterns in causal attribution, or in confidence (for an irrelevant, perceptual task). I will discuss initial results from an online study in the general population, combining adapted learning tasks with a transdiagnostic questionnaire battery, centred on depressive and related mental health symptoms. Replicating previous findings, we found that self-attribution patterns can shape learning biased. We also see some promise for this task in quantifying negative self-attribution biases linked to depressive symptoms. In a second task, we see some evidence that value-based learning can be disrupted by (even irrelevant) confidence, but neither this effect, nor average confidence, were linked to depressive symptoms. Further ongoing model-based analyses will be discussed, seeking to disentangle interactions between learning, self-attribution, and self-evaluation, and links to mental health.

Zoom link:

https://uni-bonn.zoom.us/j/67862809703?pwd=WHM3b3lIUFJYY2x0ekxLZUhxS3UvUT09

Meeting-ID: 678 6280 9703, Code: 193789

About the seminar series:
This seminar is part of the Bonn-Melbourne Seminar Series in Decision Neuroscience and Computational Psychiatry, jointly organised by the University of Bonn (Institute of Psychology) and the University of Melbourne (Centre for Brain, Mind and Markets).

Convenors: Professor Ulrich Ettinger (University of Bonn), Professor Carsten Murawski (University of Melbourne)

#BonnMelbourneDecisionSeminar