Objective
Abnormalities in reward-related processes are frequently observed in individuals with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. However, results regarding impairments in monetary and social reward processing seem to be inconsistent, and few studies have directly compared monetary and social incentives. This study examined whether there are differences in the processing of monetary and social incentives among youth with suicidal ideation and which component of reward processing is deficient.
Methods
Event-related potentials (ERPs) was used to collect neural response during the anticipation and reception phases of reward processing. A sample of 98 college students was divided into two groups: those who reported experiencing suicidal ideation within the past year (N = 46) and those without (N = 52). Participants completed monetary and social incentive delay tasks, alongside self-reported measures of suicidal ideation and anhedonia.
Results & Discussion
Subjects with suicidal ideation exhibited impairments in response to social stimuli. To social punishment cues, they exhibited increased anticipation but blunted motor preparation. Additionally, their neural response to social reward receipt, indexed by reward positivity (RewP), tended to more negative, indicating diminished pleasure from social interactions. But the suicidal ideation group did not exhibit significant neural abnormalities in response to monetary incentives.
Conclusions
Heightened neural sensitivity to social punishment in anticipatory phase may serve as a potential biomarker for  young adults with suicidal ideation. This alteration in reward processing could also affect their ability to derive pleasure from social interactions, further impairing their social functioning.
 

reward process,suicidal ideation,social incentive