title: Blunted left cingulate activation in mood disorder subjects during a response interference task (the Stroop).
abstract: Functional neuroimaging studies have found abnormal anterior cingulate activity in depressed subjects, and other studies have shown that the cingulate gyrus becomes active in healthy subjects during interference tasks. The authors hypothesized that subjects with mood disorder might show blunted cingulate activation during the standard Stroop interference task or during a modified version involving sadness-laden words. In contrast to 11 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects who activated the left cingulate during the standard Stroop, 11 mood-disordered subjects activated the right anterior cingulate gyrus only slightly and instead showed increased activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal and visual cortex. This study supports theories of blunted limbic and paralimbic activation and abnormal cingulate activity in depression and adds to the growing knowledge of the functional neuroanatomy of depression.
authors.affiliation: Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. georgem@musc.edu
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Ketter
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Parekh
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rosinsky
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Ring
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Pazzaglia
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Marangell
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Callahan
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Post
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000523:psychology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003119:Color Perception Tests; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed