Metacognitive deficits drive depression through a network of subjective and objective cognitive functions

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 22529 - 9
• Main Authors: Zhan, Yuting, Ding, Xu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02.07.2025; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/477; 692/699; Adult; Case-Control Studies; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive dysfunction; Cognitive Dysfunction - physiopathology; Cognitive Dysfunction - psychology; Depression; Depression - psychology; Depressive Disorder, Major - physiopathology; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Female; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Male; Metacognition; Metacognition - physiology; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Network analysis; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Subjective cognitive complaints; Depression; Subjective cognitive complaints; Network analysis; Cognitive dysfunction; Metacognition
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-06224-1
• ISSN: 2045-2322

Although the relationship between depression and cognitive dysfunction has been extensively documented, research examining the intermediary role of metacognitive processes remains surprisingly limited. This study employed advanced network analytical techniques to elucidate the complex interrelationships between metacognitive beliefs, depressive symptomatology, subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs), and objective cognitive performance in clinical and non-clinical populations. Using a rigorously selected sample of participants with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 146) and demographically matched controls (n = 138), we constructed regularized partial correlation networks to identify central nodes and bridge pathways. Results revealed that negative metacognitive beliefs specifically beliefs about uncontrollability and danger of thoughts—demonstrated the highest centrality indices (strength) and formed critical bridge connections between depressive symptoms and SCCs. Importantly, the network architecture differed significantly between MDD and control groups (Network Comparison Test: M = 0.28, p  = .003), with the MDD network exhibiting stronger connectivity between metacognitive nodes and subjective cognitive complaints (∆edge = 0.31, p  < .01). Longitudinal analyses utilizing graphical vector autoregression models (n = 167) demonstrated that changes in metacognitive beliefs temporally preceded alterations in both depressive symptoms (β = 0.34, p  < .001) and subjective cognitive complaints (β = 0.29, p  < .01), independent of objective cognitive performance. These findings provide compelling evidence for the metacognitive model of depression and suggest that interventions targeting maladaptive metacognitive beliefs may effectively address both mood symptoms and subjective cognitive dysfunction, even in the absence of objective cognitive impairment.