title: Electrical brain imaging reveals the expression and timing of altered error monitoring functions in major depression.
abstract: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by disturbances in affect, motivation, and cognitive control processes, including error detection. However, the expression and timing of the impairments during error monitoring remain unclear in MDD. The behavior and event-related brain responses (ERPs) of 20 patients with MDD were compared with those of 20 healthy controls (HCs), while they performed a Go/noGo task. Errors during this task were associated with 2 ERP components, the error-related negativity (ERN/Ne) and the error positivity (Pe). Results show that the ERN/Ne-correct-related negativity (CRN) amplitude difference was significantly larger in MDD patients (after controlling for speed), compared with HCs, although MDD patients exhibited overactive medial frontal cortex (MFC) activation. By comparison, the subsequent Pe component was smaller in MDD patients compared with HCs and this effect was accompanied by a reduced activation of ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) regions. These results suggest that MDD has multiple cascade effects on early error monitoring brain mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University.
authors.forename: Kristien
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aarts
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University.
authors.forename: Marie-Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vanderhasselt
authors.affiliation: P.C. Dr. Guislain.
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Otte
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baeken
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University.
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pourtois
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis