title: Right-posterior face processing anomaly in depression.
abstract: Evidence of a right-posterior brain anomaly was found in a study of 19 individuals with major depression and 15 controls. Participants performed a recognition-memory task involving positive, neutral, and negative face and word stimuli. Scalp brain wave topography suggested a region-specific anomaly in the depressed group. Individuals with major depression demonstrated a reduction in the N200 component of the event-related brain potential to faces and not words. Furthermore, results indicate that the regional anomaly is specific to positive facial stimuli. Findings are interpreted in light of a model of regional brain specialization in emotion and psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. pdeldin@wjh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Deldin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gergen
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D012032:Refractory Period, Electrophysiological; D014936:Word Association Tests