Performance on a virtual reality spatial memory navigation task in depressed patients.
OBJECTIVE
Findings on spatial memory in depression have been inconsistent. A navigation task based on virtual reality may provide a more sensitive and consistent measure of the hippocampal-related spatial memory deficits associated with depression.


METHODS
Performance on a novel virtual reality navigation task and a traditional measure of spatial memory was assessed in 30 depressed patients (unipolar and bipolar) and 19 normal comparison subjects.


RESULTS
Depressed patients performed significantly worse than comparison subjects on the virtual reality task, as assessed by the number of locations found in the virtual town. Between-group differences were not detected on the traditional measure. The navigation task showed high test-retest reliability.


CONCLUSIONS
Depressed patients performed worse than healthy subjects on a novel spatial memory task. Virtual reality navigation may provide a consistent, sensitive measure of cognitive deficits in patients with affective disorders, representing a mechanism to study a putative endophenotype for hippocampal function.
Gould
Neda F
NF
Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, NIMH, Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, 10 Center Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Holmes
M Kathleen
MK
Fantie
Bryan D
BD
Luckenbaugh
David A
DA
Pine
Daniel S
DS
Gould
Todd D
TD
Burgess
Neil
N
Manji
Husseini K
HK
Zarate
Carlos A
CA
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014584:User-Computer Interface