Quick Video Game May Identify Major Depressive Disorder

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- A video game may help diagnose people with major depressive disorder (MDD), according to a study published online May 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Aadith Vittala, from the New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues tested the hypothesis that the decisional reference point is pathologically elevated and dynamically inflexible in patients with MDD versus healthy controls. The analysis included 50 people diagnosed with MDD and 70 controls who played a three-minute video game that involved competing to collect the most apples falling from digital trees.The researchers found that people previously diagnosed with MDD by standard tests stopped taking pleasure in the game's main activity sooner than healthy participants. On average, the controls stuck with a tree until the yield dropped to five, but people with MDD typically left a tree much earlier (before the yield dropped to eight or nine apples), which varied depending on the severity of their depression. This represented a nearly 50 percent increase in the decisional reference point."Measuring reference points may help us identify a specific subtype of depression linked to anhedonia, clarify its disease-causing brain computations, and tailor treatments," co-senior author Dan Iosifescu, M.D., also from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said in a statement. "We may be able to do this remotely by asking patients, rather than traveling repeatedly for in-person visits, to spend a few minutes per week playing a smartphone game that lets us quickly adjust their treatment."Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required).Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Quick Video Game May Identify Major Depressive Disorder

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