Amygdala reactivity to masked negative faces is associated with automatic judgmental bias in major depression: a 3 T fMRI study.
OBJECTIVE
In a previous study, we demonstrated that amygdala reactivity to masked negative facial emotions predicts negative judgmental bias in healthy subjects. In the present study, we extended the paradigm to a sample of 35 inpatients suffering from depression to investigate the effect of amygdala reactivity on automatic negative judgmental bias and clinical characteristics in depression.


METHODS
Amygdala activity was recorded in response to masked displays of angry, sad and happy facial expressions by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T. In a subsequent experiment, the patients performed an affective priming task that characterizes automatic emotion processing by investigating the biasing effect of subliminally presented emotional faces on evaluative ratings to subsequently presented neutral stimuli.


RESULTS
Significant associations between (right) amygdala reactivity and automatic negative judgmental bias were replicated in our patient sample (r=-0.59, p<0.001). Further, negatively biased evaluative processing was associated with severity and longer course of illness (r=-0.57, p=0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Amygdala hyperactivity is a neural substrate of negatively biased automatic emotion processing that could be a determinant for a more severe disease course.
Dannlowski, Ohrmann, Bauer, Arolt, Kersting, Suslow-Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Germany. dannlow@uni-muenster.de
Udo
U
Dannlowski
Patricia
P
Ohrmann
Jochen
J
Bauer
Harald
H
Kugel
Volker
V
Arolt
Walter
W
Heindel
Anette
A
Kersting
Bernhard T
BT
Baune
Thomas
T
Suslow
D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001332:Automatism; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index