Transdiagnostic affective neuroscience: from negative affect to anhedonia and cognitive control.

Research in psychiatry and clinical neuroscience is increasingly recognizing that negative affect and anhedonia are not confined to a single diagnostic category. Traditionally, most research on these symptoms has been conducted within single-diagnosis frameworks, treating depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and anxiety-related conditions as largely separate research literatures. This separation limits understanding of the shared neural and cognitive mechanisms that link reduced positive affect to impaired cognitive control across conditions. While several studies have pointed to overlapping reward and executive control circuits across diagnoses, critical questions remain about how these mechanisms interact, whether they follow a common trajectory, and how they can be reliably measured and targeted for intervention. As transdiagnostic frameworks gain traction, the field faces ongoing debates concerning symptom overlap, measurement consistency, and the translational value of mechanism-based models over categorical diagnosis.This Research Topic aims to advance the scientific and clinical understanding of negative affect and anhedonia by examining their relationship to cognitive control across diagnostic boundaries. By bringing together evidence from mood disorders and the psychosis spectrum, the goal is to address how shared neural circuits, including prefrontal-striatal reward pathways and networks supporting attention, inhibition, and working memory, give rise to both affective and cognitive symptoms. The Research Topic seeks to foster the development and dissemination of mechanism-based approaches that combine neuroimaging, behavioral testing, and computational modeling, with a view to both fundamental discovery and clinical translation. Key objectives include improving mechanistic insight, enhancing early identification and prediction of treatment response, and overcoming current limitations in cross-diagnostic comparability.The scope of this Research Topic encompasses research examining the relationship between negative affect, anhedonia, and cognitive control across psychiatric and neurological populations. The focus is on studies and methods that move beyond single-diagnosis models, with emphasis on shared mechanisms, biomarkers, and interventions applicable across conditions. We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:-Neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies of reward processing and cognitive control across diagnostic groups-Behavioral and computational models linking anhedonia to executive function deficits-Comparative studies of affective and cognitive profiles across mood, psychotic, and anxiety-related disorders -Pharmacological, neuromodulatory, or psychotherapeutic interventions targeting the anhedonia-cognitive control axis-Biomarker and predictor studies for treatment response across diagnostic categories Topic editors: Marianna Mazza, Giuseppe Marano, Osvaldo Mazza Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84790/transdiagnostic-affective-neuroscience-from-negative-affect-to-anhedonia-and-cognitive-control