The Importance of Common Currency Tasks in Translational Psychiatry

Purpose of ReviewCommon currency tasks are tasks that investigate the same phenomenon in different species. In this review, we discuss how to ensure the translational validity of common currency tasks, summarise their benefits, present recent research in this area and offer future directions and recommendations.Recent FindingsWe discuss the strengths and limitations of three specific examples where common currency tasks have added to our understanding of psychiatric constructs-affective bias, reversal learning and goal-based decision making.SummaryOverall, common currency tasks offer the potential to improve drug discovery in psychiatry. We recommend that researchers prioritise construct validity above face validity when designing common currency tasks and suggest that the evidence for construct validity is summarised in papers presenting research in this area.

Automated summary

Common currency tasks, which investigate the same phenomenon in different species, have the potential to improve drug discovery in psychiatry. Researchers should prioritize construct validity over face validity when designing such tasks, and provide a summary of evidence for construct validity in research papers in this field.