title: Neurocognitive processing of emotion facial expressions in individuals with self-reported depressive symptoms: the role of personality and anxiety.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Neurocognition may constitute one of the numerous factors that mediate the reciprocal influences between personality and depression. The present study explored the influence of personality and anxiety traits on the neurocognitive processing of emotional faces and specifically focused on personal characteristics related to negative (harm avoidance - HA) and positive affectivity (self-directedness - SD) and to anxiety.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty participants with self-reported depressive symptoms and 18 control participants were selected based on their BDI-II scores. Personality (TCI-R), anxiety and attention were measured and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during an implicit emotional face perception task (fear, sadness, happiness, neutrality).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The participants who self-reported depressive symptoms had higher HA, lower SD and higher anxiety compared to controls. Controls showed enhanced P300 and LPP amplitudes for fear. Individuals with self-reported depression showed reduced ERPs amplitudes for happiness. HA did not account for the difference between the groups but high HA and high anxiety were positively correlated with enhanced P300 amplitude for fear in participants with depressive symptoms. In contrast, SD accounted for the difference between the groups but was not correlated to the ERP components' amplitudes recorded for facial expressions. Other personality dimensions (reward dependence, cooperativeness) influenced the ERPs recorded for facial emotions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Personality dimensions influence the neurocognitive processing of emotional faces in individuals with self-reported depressive symptoms, which may constitute a cognitive vulnerability to depression.
authors.affiliation: Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Psychologie Cognitives et Sociales (LAPCOS, EA 7278), 3, boulevard François-Mitterrand, 06357 Nice cedex 4, France. Electronic address: solange.mardaga@gmail.com.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mardaga
authors.affiliation: Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Psychologie Cognitives et Sociales (LAPCOS, EA 7278), 3, boulevard François-Mitterrand, 06357 Nice cedex 4, France. Electronic address: iakimova@unice.fr.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Iakimova
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D057566:Self Report; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depression; Dépression; Emotion facial expressions; Expressions faciales émotionnelles; LPP; P300; Personality; Personnalité