The error processing system in major depressive disorder: Cortical phenotypal marker hypothesis

• Published in: Biological psychology Vol. 99; pp. 100 - 114
• Main Author: Schoenberg, Poppy L.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.05.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Analysis of Variance; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Choice Behavior - physiology; Contingent Negative Variation - physiology; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - drug therapy; Depressive Disorder, Major - pathology; Depressive Disorder, Major - physiopathology; Electroencephalography; ERN; ERP; Error processing system; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Inhibition (Psychology); Major depressive disorder; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Mood disorders; Neuropsychological Tests; Phenotypal marker; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Signal Detection, Psychological; Young Adult; ERN; Error processing system; ERP; Phenotypal marker; Pe; Major depressive disorder; Mood disorder; Electrophysiology; Depression; Event evoked potential
• ISSN: 0301-0511; 1873-6246
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.03.005

•Cortical abberations of the error processing system characterise MDD.•Blunted ERN exclusive to male patients indicate sex-related ERN waveform differences.•Enhanced Pe amplitudes were observed in patients compared to controls.•Pe waveform disparities provide a possible intermediate phenotypal biomarker of depression. Major depressive disorder (MDD) ensues reduced goal-directed cognition and behaviour. Cognitive and emotional flexibility to disengage and adapt future responses was examined in the error processing system (error-related negativity/ERN, error-positivity/Pe event-related potentials) of 58 depressed patients (21 current, 37 remitted) vs. 27 controls undergoing cognitive and affective Go/NoGo paradigms. ERN was equivalent between patient and controls for the cognitive task, albeit amplitude attenuated in patients during the affective task. Blunted ERN amplitudes were evident between patients and controls in males compared to females, plausibly underpinned by disparities in dopaminergic pathways. Patients displayed enhanced Pe amplitudes for both cognitive and affective tasks. Abberations in cortical error processing in MDD appear specific to affective systems for the pre-attentive ERN, opposed to cognitive and affective processing for the consciously-integrated Pe. Heightened Pe, observed in both current and remitted patients, advocates the possibility of the Pe waveform as a candidate intermediate phenotype of depression.