Testing the Translational Validity of the Learned Helplessness Model in Humans: Effects of Stressor Controllability on Reward Processing and Social Functioning
Abstract
Learned helplessness (LH) theory proposes that uncontrollable stress, but not otherwise identical controllable stress, produces behavioral consequences relevant to depression. Although extensively validated in animal models, the extent to which experimentally induced uncontrollability in humans reproduces depression-related behavioral alterations remains unclear. Here, we conducted one of the largest experimental investigations of human LH to date, using a preregistered yoked-control design in which participants were exposed to identical aversive stimuli but differed in their ability to control stimulus termination. We first examined whether uncontrollability impaired performance on a classic LH outcome measure, the anagram task. We then assessed its effects across multiple depression-relevant domains, including reward learning, effort-based reward motivation, and social behavior. Uncontrollability did not produce the broad behavioral impairments predicted by classical LH theory. Anagram performance showed effects in the expected direction but did not meet preregistered criteria for successful LH induction. Similarly, uncontrollability did not alter reward learning or social behavior, including social submissiveness and social avoidance. In contrast, uncontrollability selectively affected effort-based decision-making by reducing sensitivity to reward magnitude and probability when participants evaluated whether to exert effort for potential rewards. These findings suggest that acute experimentally induced uncontrollability in healthy adults does not produce a generalized depression-like behavioral syndrome but may selectively influence reward valuation processes underlying motivated behavior. More broadly, our results highlight the importance of identifying which components of depression-related dysfunction are reliably captured by laboratory models of stress controllability.
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BibTeX
@misc{fortin2026testing,
title = {{Testing the Translational Validity of the Learned Helplessness Model in Humans: Effects of Stressor Controllability on Reward Processing and Social Functioning}},
author = {Jean-Simon Fortin and Charles Parisien and Andréanne Richard-Robert and Norah Ho-El Abidi and Elina Khalaf and Catherine Parent and Mathilde Lafleur and Justine Le Blanc-Brillon and Xin Song and Soren Wainio-Theberge},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/cpn6v_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/cpn6v_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Testing the Translational Validity of the Learned Helplessness Model in Humans: Effects of Stressor Controllability on Reward Processing and Social Functioning
AU - Jean-Simon Fortin
AU - Charles Parisien
AU - Andréanne Richard-Robert
AU - Norah Ho-El Abidi
AU - Elina Khalaf
AU - Catherine Parent
AU - Mathilde Lafleur
AU - Justine Le Blanc-Brillon
AU - Xin Song
AU - Soren Wainio-Theberge
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/cpn6v_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/cpn6v_v1/
AB - Learned helplessness (LH) theory proposes that uncontrollable stress, but not otherwise identical controllable stress, produces behavioral consequences relevant to depression. Although extensively validated in animal models, the extent to which experimentally induced uncontrollability in humans reproduces depression-related behavioral alterations remains unclear. Here, we conducted one of the largest experimental investigations of human LH to date, using a preregistered yoked-control design in which participants were exposed to identical aversive stimuli but differed in their ability to control stimulus termination. We first examined whether uncontrollability impaired performance on a classic LH outcome measure, the anagram task. We then assessed its effects across multiple depression-relevant domains, including reward learning, effort-based reward motivation, and social behavior. Uncontrollability did not produce the broad behavioral impairments predicted by classical LH theory. Anagram performance showed effects in the expected direction but did not meet preregistered criteria for successful LH induction. Similarly, uncontrollability did not alter reward learning or social behavior, including social submissiveness and social avoidance. In contrast, uncontrollability selectively affected effort-based decision-making by reducing sensitivity to reward magnitude and probability when participants evaluated whether to exert effort for potential rewards. These findings suggest that acute experimentally induced uncontrollability in healthy adults does not produce a generalized depression-like behavioral syndrome but may selectively influence reward valuation processes underlying motivated behavior. More broadly, our results highlight the importance of identifying which components of depression-related dysfunction are reliably captured by laboratory models of stress controllability.
ER -