TY - JOUR
T1 - Prefrontal mechanisms for executive control over emotional distraction are altered in major depression
AU - Wang, Lihong
AU - LaBar, Kevin S.
AU - Smoski, Moria
AU - Rosenthal, M. Zachary
AU - Dolcos, Florin
AU - Lynch, Thomas R.
AU - Krishnan, Ranga R.
AU - McCarthy, Gregory
N1 - This research was supported by the Duke Silvio O. Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Depression (P50-MH60451). GM was supported by a DVA Senior Research Career Scientist Award and by the DVA VISN6 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC).
PY - 2008/7/15
Y1 - 2008/7/15
N2 - A dysfunction in the interaction between executive function and mood regulation has been proposed as the pathophysiology of depression. However, few studies have investigated the alteration in brain systems related to executive control over emotional distraction in depression. To address this issue, 19 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 20 healthy controls were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants performed an emotional oddball task in which infrequently presented circle targets required detection while sad and neutral pictures were irrelevant novel distractors. Hemodynamic responses were compared for targets, sad distractors, and for targets that followed sad or neutral distractors (Target-after-Sad and Target-after-Neutral). Patients with MDD revealed attenuated activation overall to targets in executive brain regions. Behaviorally, MDD patients were slower in response to Target-after-Sad than Target-after-Neutra stimuli. Patients also revealed a reversed activation pattern from controls in response to this contrast in the left anterior cingulate, insula, right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and bilateral middle frontal gyrus. Those patients who engaged the right IFG more during Target-after-Neutral stimuli responded faster to targets, confirming a role of this region in coping with emotional distraction. The results provide direct evidence of an alteration in the neural systems that interplay cognition with mood in MDD.
AB - A dysfunction in the interaction between executive function and mood regulation has been proposed as the pathophysiology of depression. However, few studies have investigated the alteration in brain systems related to executive control over emotional distraction in depression. To address this issue, 19 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 20 healthy controls were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants performed an emotional oddball task in which infrequently presented circle targets required detection while sad and neutral pictures were irrelevant novel distractors. Hemodynamic responses were compared for targets, sad distractors, and for targets that followed sad or neutral distractors (Target-after-Sad and Target-after-Neutral). Patients with MDD revealed attenuated activation overall to targets in executive brain regions. Behaviorally, MDD patients were slower in response to Target-after-Sad than Target-after-Neutra stimuli. Patients also revealed a reversed activation pattern from controls in response to this contrast in the left anterior cingulate, insula, right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and bilateral middle frontal gyrus. Those patients who engaged the right IFG more during Target-after-Neutral stimuli responded faster to targets, confirming a role of this region in coping with emotional distraction. The results provide direct evidence of an alteration in the neural systems that interplay cognition with mood in MDD.
KW - Anterior cingulate cortex
KW - Event-related fMRI
KW - Inferior frontal cortex
KW - Interaction of executive function and emotion
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.10.004
DO - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.10.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 18455373
AN - SCOPUS:44649120816
SN - 0925-4927
VL - 163
SP - 143
EP - 155
JO - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
JF - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
IS - 2
ER -