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Teng CL, Cong L, Wang W, Cheng S, Wu M, Dang WT, Jia M, Ma J, Xu J, Hu WD. Disrupted properties of functional brain networks in major depressive disorder during emotional face recognition: an EEG study via graph theory analysis. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1338765. [PMID: 38415279 PMCID: PMC10897049 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1338765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed abnormal brain networks in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) in emotional processing. While any cognitive task consists of a series of stages, little is yet known about the topology of functional brain networks in MDD for these stages during emotional face recognition. To address this problem, electroencephalography (EEG)-based functional brain networks of MDD patients at different stages of facial information processing were investigated in this study. First, EEG signals were collected from 16 patients with MDD and 18 age-, gender-, and education-matched normal subjects when performing an emotional face recognition task. Second, the global field power (GFP) method was employed to divide group-averaged event-related potentials into different stages. Third, using the phase transfer entropy (PTE) approach, the brain networks of MDD patients and normal individuals were constructed for each stage in negative and positive face processing, respectively. Finally, we compared the topological properties of brain networks of each stage between the two groups using graph theory approaches. The results showed that the analyzed three stages of emotional face processing corresponded to specific neurophysiological phases, namely, visual perception, face recognition, and emotional decision-making. It was also demonstrated that depressed patients showed abnormally decreased characteristic path length at the visual perception stage of negative face recognition and normalized characteristic path length in the stage of emotional decision-making during positive face processing compared to healthy subjects. Furthermore, while both the MDD and normal groups' brain networks were found to exhibit small-world network characteristics, the brain network of patients with depression tended to be randomized. Moreover, for patients with MDD, the centro-parietal region may lose its status as a hub in the process of facial expression identification. Together, our findings suggested that altered emotional function in MDD patients might be associated with disruptions in the topological organization of functional brain networks during emotional face recognition, which further deepened our understanding of the emotion processing dysfunction underlying MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao-Lin Teng
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Lin Cong
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wei Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Shan Cheng
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Min Wu
- The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, Institute of Health and Rehabilitation Science, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wei-Tao Dang
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Min Jia
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Jin Ma
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Jin Xu
- The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, Institute of Health and Rehabilitation Science, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wen-Dong Hu
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
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Hosseini FA, Shaygan M, Jahandideh Z. Positive imagery in depressive suicidal patients: A randomized controlled trial of the effect of viewing loved ones' photos on mood states and suicidal ideation. Heliyon 2023; 9:e22312. [PMID: 38058624 PMCID: PMC10695982 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
According to research, it has been suggested that individuals who are affected by depression could potentially engage in the creation and experience emotional advantages relating to positive events directed towards the past or future, with the condition that they are provided with suitable mental imagery techniques. The main aim of this study was to assess the impact of utilizing positive imagery, specifically through the utilization of photographs featuring loved ones, on mood states and suicidal ideation among individuals diagnosed with depression and exhibiting suicidal tendencies. This randomized, double-blind, controlled crossover trial was conducted among 78 hospitalized depressive patients at three psychiatric services between April and August 2019. The patients participated in four individual picture-viewing sessions on four consecutive days. The four categories of pictures were included: loved ones, neutral faces of strangers, natural landscapes, and optical illusions. Directly prior to and immediately following the observation of the visual stimuli (photographs), the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSSI) were completed by the patients. Repeated measures ANOVAs conducted in this study revealed a significant main effect of time on ratings of tension, depression, fatigue, vigor, calmness, and happiness (P values < 0.001). Additionally, statistically significant interactions were identified between picture category and time in relation to the variables of tension, depression, fatigue, vigor, calmness, and happiness (P values < 0.001). The analysis did not reveal a significant main effect of time on ratings of anger, confusion, and suicidal ideation (P values > 0.05). Likewise, the interaction between picture category and time did not yield significant results for the variables of anger, confusion, and suicidal ideation (P values > 0.05). The positive imagery procedure using the presentation of loved ones' photos showed beneficial effects on the mood states of depressed patients. The findings of this study suggest that incorporating a greater emphasis on positive imagery within the context of clinical depression may offer potential advantages. This highlights the potential for novel opportunities in the treatment of depression. Trial registration The study has been registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (registration number: IRCT20180808040744N1; first registration date: December 22, 2018; website: https://en.irct.ir/trial/33186).
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Affiliation(s)
- Fahimeh Alsadat Hosseini
- Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Maryam Shaygan
- Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Zahra Jahandideh
- School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
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Yang C, He L, Liu Y, Lin Z, Luo L, Gao S. Anti-saccades reveal impaired attention control over negative social evaluation in individuals with depressive symptoms. J Psychiatr Res 2023; 165:64-69. [PMID: 37463539 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.07.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023]
Abstract
Depressed individuals are excessively sensitive to negative information but blunt to positive information, which has been considered as vulnerability to depression. Here, we focused on inhibitory control over attentional bias on social evaluation in individuals with depression. We engaged individuals with and without depressive symptoms (categorized by Beck Depression Inventory-II) in a novel attention control task using positive and negative evaluative adjectives as self-referential feedback given by social others. Participants were instructed to look at sudden onset feedback targets (pro-saccade) or the mirror location of the targets (anti-saccade) when correct saccade latencies and saccade errors were collected. The two indices showed that while both groups displayed longer latencies and more errors for anti-saccade relative to pro-saccade responses depressed individuals spent more time reacting correctly and made more errors than non-depressed individuals in the anti-saccade trials and such group differences were not observed in the pro-saccade trials. Although group differences in correct anti-saccade latencies were found for both positive and negative stimuli, depressed individuals spent more time making correct anti-saccade responses to negative social feedback than to positive ones whereas non-depressed individuals featured longer correct anti-saccade latencies for positive relative to negative evaluations. Our results suggest that depressed individuals feature an impaired ability in attention control for self-referential evaluations, notably those of negative valence, shedding new light on depression-distorted self-schema and corresponding social dysfunctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chaoqing Yang
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Linlin He
- School of Law, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, China
| | - Yucheng Liu
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Ziyang Lin
- Pittsburgh Institute, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Lizhu Luo
- Brian-Body Initiative, A*STAR Research Entities (ARES), Singapore; Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, A*STAR Research Entities, Singapore.
| | - Shan Gao
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China; The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
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Keskin K, Eker MÇ, Gönül AS, Northoff G. Abnormal global signal topography of self modulates emotion dysregulation in major depressive disorder. Transl Psychiatry 2023; 13:107. [PMID: 37012231 PMCID: PMC10070354 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-023-02398-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Revised: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex mental disorder featured by an increased focus on the self and emotion dysregulation whose interaction remains unclear, though. At the same time, various studies observed abnormal representation of global fMRI brain activity in specifically those regions, e.g., cortical midline structure (CMS) in MDD that are associated with the self. Are the self and its impact on emotion regulation related to global brain activity unevenly represented in CMS relative to non-CMS? Addressing this yet open question is the main goal of our study. We here investigate post-acute treatment responder MDD and healthy controls in fMRI during an emotion task involving both attention and reappraisal of negative and neutral stimuli. We first demonstrate abnormal emotion regulation with increased negative emotion severity on the behavioral level. Next, focusing on a recently established three-layer topography of self, we show increased representation of global fMRI brain activity in specifically those regions mediating the mental (CMS) and exteroceptive (Right temporo-parietal junction and mPFC) self in post-acute MDD during the emotion task. Applying a complex statistical model, namely multinomial regression analyses, we show that increased global infra-slow neural activity in the regions of the mental and exteroceptive self modulates the behavioral measures of specifically negative emotion regulation (emotion attention and reappraisal/suppression). Together, we demonstrate increased representation of global brain activity in regions of the mental and exteroceptive self, including their modulation of negative emotion dysregulation in specifically the infra-slow frequency range (0.01 to 0.1 Hz) of post-acute MDD. These findings support the assumption that the global infra-slow neural basis of the increased self-focus in MDD may take on the role as basic disturbance in that it generates the abnormal regulation of negative emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaan Keskin
- Department of Psychiatry, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
- SoCAT Lab, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
- Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit, University of Ottawa, Ontario, ON, Canada.
| | - Mehmet Çağdaş Eker
- Department of Psychiatry, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
- SoCAT Lab, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Ali Saffet Gönül
- Department of Psychiatry, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
- SoCAT Lab, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Georg Northoff
- Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit, University of Ottawa, Ontario, ON, Canada
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Huang G, Li Y, Zhu H, Feng H, Shen X, Chen Z. Emotional stimulation processing characteristics in depression: Meta-analysis of eye tracking findings. Front Psychol 2023; 13:1089654. [PMID: 36710847 PMCID: PMC9880408 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1089654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective To systematically evaluate the attentional bias in patients with depression toward emotional stimuli and to explore eye movement indicators and potential regulatory variables that can distinguish such patients from healthy individuals. Methods Case-control studies regarding eye-tracking in major depressive disorder published in PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, The Cochrane Library, EBSCOhost, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and VIP databases from database initiation until March 12, 2022 were included in the present meta-analysis. Two researchers independently screened the literature and performed data extraction. The quality of the literature was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale.RevMan 5.4 software was used for Meta-analysis. Results Overall, 14 studies were included, including 1,167 participants (N depression = 474; N healthy = 693). We found that (1) fixation duration was significantly lower for positive emotional stimuli in the depression group than that in the healthy group; however, for negative stimuli, the fixation duration was significantly more in the depression group than in the healthy group. No significant difference was observed in terms of neutral emotional stimuli between groups. (2) Patients with depression exhibited a significantly lower fixation count for positive emotional stimuli than healthy individuals, whereas the fixation count for negative emotional stimuli was significantly higher in the depression group than in the healthy group. No significant difference was found for neutral emotional stimuli between groups. (3) No significant difference was detected in terms of the first fixation duration of the positive, negative, and neutral emotional stimuli between groups. (4) subgroup analysis indicated that age effected fixation duration for positive emotional stimuli. In addition, age and the type of negative emotional picture (sad, dysphoric, threat, anger) effected fixation duration for negative emotional stimuli. Conclusion Our research supports that patients with depression exhibit a negative attention bias toward emotional stimuli, and the fixation duration and fixation counts may be used as auxiliary objective indicators for depression screening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Genying Huang
- College of Humanities, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
| | - Yafang Li
- College of Humanities, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China,Key Laboratory of Psychology of TCM and Brain Science, Jiangxi Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China,*Correspondence: Yafang Li ✉
| | - Huizhong Zhu
- College of Acupuncture and Massage, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
| | - Hong Feng
- College of Humanities, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
| | - Xunbing Shen
- College of Humanities, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China,Key Laboratory of Psychology of TCM and Brain Science, Jiangxi Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
| | - Zhencai Chen
- College of Humanities, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China,Key Laboratory of Psychology of TCM and Brain Science, Jiangxi Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
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Li M, Zhang J, Jiang C, Wang J, Sun R, Jin S, Zhang N, Zhou Z. The Neural Correlates of the Recognition of Emotional Intensity Deficits in Major Depression: An ERP Study. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2023; 19:117-131. [PMID: 36660318 PMCID: PMC9842523 DOI: 10.2147/ndt.s393264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE Deficits in facial emotional intensity recognition have been associated with social cognition in patients with major depression. The study examined multiple event-related potential (ERP) components in patients with major depression and investigated the relationships between ERPs, social cognition, and clinical features. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS Thirty-one patients met DSM-IV diagnosis of depression and 31 healthy participants completed the emotion intensity recognition task (EIRT), while ERPs were recorded. Data on ERP components (P100, N170, P200, and P300) were analyzed. RESULTS The behavioral results showed that patients with major depression performed worse on EIRT, including all six categories of emotions (sadness, disgust, happiness, surprise, anger, and fear), compared to healthy participants. The ERP results showed that patients with major depression exhibited higher P100 amplitudes for sad and happy faces than healthy participants; P300 amplitudes induced by sad and surprise faces were also higher than in healthy participants, mainly in the central and temporal lobes. A positive correlation was found between sadness intensity scores and P100 amplitudes in patients with major depression. CONCLUSION Patients with major depression are biased in their identification of facial expressions indicating emotional intensity. Specifically, they have emotional biases in the early and late stages of cognitive processing, mainly in the form of sensitivity to sad stimuli. It may lead to a persistent rumination of sadness that is detrimental to the remission of depression. Additionally, patients with major depression devote different amounts of cognitive resources for different intensities of sad faces during the preconscious stage of cognitive processing. The more intense their perception of sadness, the more cognitive resources they devote. Therefore, the assessment of the intensity of facial expressions is an important research topic, with clinical implications on social cognitive function in patients with major depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miao Li
- Department of Psychology, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.,Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Wuxi Mental Health Center of Jiangnan University, Wuxi Central Rehabilitation Hospital, Wuxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiazhao Zhang
- Grade 2019 Class 6, Basic Medicine College of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Chenguang Jiang
- Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Wuxi Mental Health Center of Jiangnan University, Wuxi Central Rehabilitation Hospital, Wuxi, People's Republic of China.,Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jun Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Wuxi Mental Health Center of Jiangnan University, Wuxi Central Rehabilitation Hospital, Wuxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Ruhong Sun
- Department of Psychiatry, Nanjing Medical University Graduate School, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Shayu Jin
- Department of Psychiatry, Nanjing Medical University Graduate School, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Ning Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhenhe Zhou
- Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Wuxi Mental Health Center of Jiangnan University, Wuxi Central Rehabilitation Hospital, Wuxi, People's Republic of China
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Bohne A, Nordahl D, Lindahl ÅAW, Ulvenes P, Wang CEA, Pfuhl G. Emotional Infant Face Processing in Women With Major Depression and Expecting Parents With Depressive Symptoms. Front Psychol 2021; 12:657269. [PMID: 34276481 PMCID: PMC8283203 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.657269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Processing of emotional facial expressions is of great importance in interpersonal relationships. Aberrant engagement with facial expressions, particularly an engagement with sad faces, loss of engagement with happy faces, and enhanced memory of sadness has been found in depression. Since most studies used adult faces, we here examined if such biases also occur in processing of infant faces in those with depression or depressive symptoms. In study 1, we recruited 25 inpatient women with major depression and 25 matched controls. In study 2, we extracted a sample of expecting parents from the NorBaby study, where 29 reported elevated levels of depressive symptoms, and 29 were matched controls. In both studies, we assessed attentional bias with a dot-probe task using happy, sad and neutral infant faces, and facial memory bias with a recognition task using happy, sad, angry, afraid, surprised, disgusted and neutral infant and adult faces. Participants also completed the Ruminative Responses Scale and Becks Depression Inventory-II. In study 1, we found no group difference in either attention to or memory accuracy for emotional infant faces. Neither attention nor recognition was associated with rumination. In study 2, we found that the group with depressive symptoms disengaged more slowly than healthy controls from sad infant faces, and this was related to rumination. The results place emphasis on the importance of emotional self-relevant material when examining cognitive processing in depression. Together, these studies demonstrate that a mood-congruent attentional bias to infant faces is present in expecting parents with depressive symptoms, but not in inpatients with Major Depression Disorder who do not have younger children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnes Bohne
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Dag Nordahl
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Åsne A W Lindahl
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Pål Ulvenes
- Modum Bad Research Institute, Vikersund, Norway
| | - Catharina E A Wang
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Gerit Pfuhl
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
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