Brain activation correlates of negative attentional bias in depression

Authors

• JL Ihne
• AC Nugent
• ML Furey
• J Szczepanik
• CA Zarate Jr

Abstract

An attentional bias toward negative stimuli has been shown in major depressive disorder (MDD), yet the underlying neurobiology of this phenomenon has not been well studied. We examined this using fMRI during a dot probe task in which two faces were presented: one angry, happy, or neutral and the other neutral. A blank screen then appeared with a dot on one side (to which the participant responded), and trials in which the dot replaced the emotional face were considered congruent. Our study included 27 MDD patients (unmedicated) and 25 healthy controls (HC). We compared fMRI BOLD activation using a multivariate model with congruency, emotion, and group as factors (with FWE-correction at cluster level p

Scientific Focus Area: Neuroscience

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