5 ms·

Interesting. But isn't this almost the definition of depression?

wapz 10y ago
I think a better take away is the reverse. If you are rewarding children in your class (or your kids) and one is not enthusiastic then you should take note there might be a problem (essentially the first sentence of the article).
- douche 10y ago
  I'd be very careful here. Perhaps the particular reward is not perceived by the child as a reward? I can think of any number of things that one party might perceive as a reward that would be, to me, uncomfortable or meh.
  - jayajay 10y ago
    Interesting. Instead, kid enters the room, you tell them that they will be sitting there anywhere from 5 minutes to 3 hours, depending on how long the experiment should be. They get to choose a sequence of doors. At each step, the door can either contain +10 minutes or -10 minutes, representing the number of minutes which will be either added to or subtracted from their experiment duration, respectively. My guess is that the depressed/bored children will now respond a little bit better to this experiment. It's just a guess -- but I think depressed/bored kids would tend to avoid spending time being bored in a little lab room.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - Symbiote 10y ago
      Depression has little to do with boredom. I think a depressed person would be more likely to ignore all your doors, or open a few without caring one way or the other. But I'm not a psychiatrist.
      - jayajay 10y ago
        > Depression has little to do with boredom. This is not as well understood as we think. I would suggest doing that experiment with both types of people, though.
  - mjevans 10y ago
    The 'take note' part is a yes. One or two signals is not a pattern, but it can mean to start looking for one.
  - csydas 10y ago
    Well, I think the research per the article tried to compensate for this by letting the children choose what would be the reward before hand, so theoretically, they're playing for something they actually want, not just party favors. I'm not clever enough to know exactly how this could introduce a bias into this particular experiment (that is, how such an operation would affect the response of depressed children), but I suppose it could. Frankly speaking I feel like the general premise is probably true, though the how on it is still unclear. I know extremely low self-esteeem and disbelief in adulation/rewards was pretty common for me when I was much deeper into depression. Even now I tend to be pretty dismissive of acknowledgements and rewards.
  - Gravityloss 10y ago
    As long as you understand the Bayesian. P(problem|symptom) = P(symptom|problem) x P(problem) / P(symptom) We only know P(symptom|problem) based on this research...
aaronblohowiak 10y ago
anhedonia (an inability to feel pleasure) is one of the markers
Pigo 10y ago
I was hoping I wasn't the only one puzzled as to why "a reduced ability to experience joy is a key sign of clinical depression in young children" was newsworthy. I hope the money invested in this research ends up enabling something that can help these poor kids. This is a real problem in our society.

wapz 10y ago

I think a better take away is the reverse. If you are rewarding children in your class (or your kids) and one is not enthusiastic then you should take note there might be a problem (essentially the first sentence of the article).

douche 10y ago
I'd be very careful here. Perhaps the particular reward is not perceived by the child as a reward? I can think of any number of things that one party might perceive as a reward that would be, to me, uncomfortable or meh.
- jayajay 10y ago
  Interesting. Instead, kid enters the room, you tell them that they will be sitting there anywhere from 5 minutes to 3 hours, depending on how long the experiment should be. They get to choose a sequence of doors. At each step, the door can either contain +10 minutes or -10 minutes, representing the number of minutes which will be either added to or subtracted from their experiment duration, respectively. My guess is that the depressed/bored children will now respond a little bit better to this experiment. It's just a guess -- but I think depressed/bored kids would tend to avoid spending time being bored in a little lab room.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - Symbiote 10y ago
    Depression has little to do with boredom. I think a depressed person would be more likely to ignore all your doors, or open a few without caring one way or the other. But I'm not a psychiatrist.
    - jayajay 10y ago
      > Depression has little to do with boredom. This is not as well understood as we think. I would suggest doing that experiment with both types of people, though.
- mjevans 10y ago
  The 'take note' part is a yes. One or two signals is not a pattern, but it can mean to start looking for one.
- csydas 10y ago
  Well, I think the research per the article tried to compensate for this by letting the children choose what would be the reward before hand, so theoretically, they're playing for something they actually want, not just party favors. I'm not clever enough to know exactly how this could introduce a bias into this particular experiment (that is, how such an operation would affect the response of depressed children), but I suppose it could. Frankly speaking I feel like the general premise is probably true, though the how on it is still unclear. I know extremely low self-esteeem and disbelief in adulation/rewards was pretty common for me when I was much deeper into depression. Even now I tend to be pretty dismissive of acknowledgements and rewards.
- Gravityloss 10y ago
  As long as you understand the Bayesian. P(problem|symptom) = P(symptom|problem) x P(problem) / P(symptom) We only know P(symptom|problem) based on this research...

aaronblohowiak 10y ago

anhedonia (an inability to feel pleasure) is one of the markers

Pigo 10y ago

I was hoping I wasn't the only one puzzled as to why "a reduced ability to experience joy is a key sign of clinical depression in young children" was newsworthy. I hope the money invested in this research ends up enabling something that can help these poor kids. This is a real problem in our society.