FROM THE JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
Older women with a history of major depressive disorder are more likely to direct their attention to negative images than women without history of MDD, researchers report. The findings follow previous research showing that individuals currently depressed or at-risk show a similar attention bias.
The current study examined 33 postmenopausal women aged 45-75 years with an emotion dot probe (EDP) task combined with fMRI scans, in addition to cognitive and depression history screening and several self-rated measures.
The EDP task showed two images on a screen followed by an asterisk and tracked the subjects’ speed at pressing a button to indicate which side of the screen the asterisk appears on. The images were classified as positive, negative (threat and distress), or neutral. If the participant had a shorter reaction time for noticing asterisks on the same side of the screen as a certain type of image during the tests, that indicated attention facilitation for that type of image.
“We examined resting-state functional connectivity before the EDP task to assess differences in intrinsic amygdala functional connections to other brain areas between the groups,” wrote Kimberly Albert, PhD, of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., and her coauthors ( J Affect Disord. 2017 Mar 1;210:49-52 ).
The women in the study with a history of MDD showed greater attention facilitation to negative images, greater amygdala activity, and greater amygdala-hippocampal functional connectivity than women without a history of MDD.
“Attention bias for negative information can be seen in individuals with past MDD without inducing a negative mood state. Attention bias for negative information may be an ongoing vulnerability for MDD recurrence independent of mood state,” Dr. Albert and her coauthors wrote.
