Anhedonia, a cardinal symptom of depression, is characterized by deficits
in positive affect. Consequently, depressed individuals demonstrate
impoverished positive imagery and a bias for observer (vs. field)
perspective when recalling autobiographical memories. To address this
abnormal recall style, participants (n=16) with anhedonia underwent Mobile
Virtual Reality Reward Training (MVR-RT) in which they watched
positively-reinforcing videos and completed a written recounting of
positive details from the scenes. To personalize treatment, they also
recounted positive autobiographical memories. Using text-analysis software,
we analyzed language use in autobiographical recalls. During the first half
of treatment, increased use of first-person pronouns was correlated with
decreased anhedonia (p=.002), anxiety (p=.003), and stress (p=.036),
suggesting enhanced field perspective is associated with improved clinical
outcomes. Changes in positive and negative emotion word use corresponded
with improvements in negative affect (p=.022) and stress (p=.020),
respectively. Results suggest MVR-RT has potential to ameliorate anhedonia
by targeting an often-neglected recall deficit in depression.