TY - JOUR
T1 - Abnormal neural filtering of irrelevant visual information in depression
AU - Desseilles, Martin
AU - Balteau, Evelyne
AU - Sterpenich, Virginie
AU - Dang-Vu, Thien Thanh
AU - Darsaud, Annabelle
AU - Vandewalle, Gilles
AU - Albouy, Geneviève
AU - Salmon, Eric
AU - Peters, Fréderic
AU - Schmidt, Christina
AU - Schabus, Manuel
AU - Gais, Stephen
AU - Degueldre, Christian
AU - Phillips, Christophe
AU - Luxen, Andre
AU - Ansseau, Marc
AU - Maquet, Pierre
AU - Schwartz, Sophie
PY - 2009/2/4
Y1 - 2009/2/4
N2 - The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) includes both affective and cognitive dysfunctions. We aimed to clarify how regions regulating affective processing interact with those involved in attention, and how such interaction impacts perceptual processing within sensory cortices. Based on previous work showing that top-down influences from attention can determine the processing of external inputs within early sensory cortices, we tested with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) whether MDD alters attentional ("top-down") effects on the neural filtering of irrelevant, nonemotional visual stimuli. The present fMRI study was conducted in 14 nonmedicated patients with a first episode of unipolar MDD and 14 matched controls. During scanning, subjects performed two tasks imposing two different levels of attentional load at fixation (easy or difficult), while irrelevant colored stimuli were presented in the periphery. Analyses of fMRI data revealed that MDD patients show (1) an abnormal filtering of irrelevant information in visual cortex, (2) an altered functional connectivity between frontoparietal networks and visual cortices, and (3) a hyperactivity in subgenual cingulate/medial orbitofrontal cortex that was modulated by attentional load. These results demonstrate that biological abnormalities contribute to the cognitive deficits seen in major depression, and clarify how neural networks implicated in mood regulation influence executive control and perceptual processes. These findings not only improve our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying cognitive dysfunctions in MDD, but also shed new light on the interaction between cognition and mood regulation.
AB - The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) includes both affective and cognitive dysfunctions. We aimed to clarify how regions regulating affective processing interact with those involved in attention, and how such interaction impacts perceptual processing within sensory cortices. Based on previous work showing that top-down influences from attention can determine the processing of external inputs within early sensory cortices, we tested with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) whether MDD alters attentional ("top-down") effects on the neural filtering of irrelevant, nonemotional visual stimuli. The present fMRI study was conducted in 14 nonmedicated patients with a first episode of unipolar MDD and 14 matched controls. During scanning, subjects performed two tasks imposing two different levels of attentional load at fixation (easy or difficult), while irrelevant colored stimuli were presented in the periphery. Analyses of fMRI data revealed that MDD patients show (1) an abnormal filtering of irrelevant information in visual cortex, (2) an altered functional connectivity between frontoparietal networks and visual cortices, and (3) a hyperactivity in subgenual cingulate/medial orbitofrontal cortex that was modulated by attentional load. These results demonstrate that biological abnormalities contribute to the cognitive deficits seen in major depression, and clarify how neural networks implicated in mood regulation influence executive control and perceptual processes. These findings not only improve our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying cognitive dysfunctions in MDD, but also shed new light on the interaction between cognition and mood regulation.
KW - Adult
KW - Attention
KW - Brain Mapping
KW - Depressive Disorder, Major
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
KW - Male
KW - Middle Aged
KW - Photic Stimulation
KW - Psychomotor Performance
KW - Visual Cortex
KW - Visual Perception
KW - Young Adult
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3341-08.2009
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3341-08.2009
M3 - Article
C2 - 19193886
SN - 1529-2401
VL - 29
SP - 1395
EP - 1403
JO - The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
JF - The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
IS - 5
ER -