title: Recruitment of the left hemispheric emotional attention neural network in risk for and protection from depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Family history of major depressive disorder (MDD) increases individuals' vulnerability to depression and alters the way depression manifests itself. Emotion processing and attention shifting are functions altered by MDD and family history of the disease; therefore, it is important to recognize the neural correlates of these functions in association with both factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our study determines neural correlates of emotion processing and attention shifting for healthy individuals and patients with MDD with and without family history of depression. We compared the performance and neural activity in a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment examining emotion processing and attention shifting in all participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our sample included 4 study groups: healthy controls without family history of depression (n = 25), patients with MDD without family history of the disease (n = 20), unaffected healthy first-degree relatives of patients with MDD (n = 21) and patients with MDD with family history of MDD (n = 30). Compared with healthy controls, unaffected first-degree relatives overactivate the somatosensory cortex and the attention controlling areas during both emotion processing and attention shifting. Patients with family history of MDD have stronger neural activation in subcortical areas during shifting attention from negative stimuli. Patients without family history of MDD have less activation in the paralimbic regions and more activation in core limbic areas, especially during emotion processing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The conclusions about the intergroup differences in activation can be drawn only about neural areas engaged in the task.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with MDD overreact to external emotional cues and compensate for the vulnerability with increased involvement of executive control. Patients with a family history of MDD have less executive control over their attentional shifts in the face of negative stimuli. Patients without a family history of MDD process emotional stimuli in a more visceral way than controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland.
authors.forename: Danuta M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Lisiecka
authors.forename: Angella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carballedo
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fagan
authors.forename: Yolande
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meaney
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frodl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D054022:Cerebrum / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult