Long-latency somatosensory potentials in high risk probands for affective disorders (original) (raw)

Enhanced long-latency somatosensory potentials in major depressive disorder

Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2001

Bodily misperceptions are a frequent symptom in major depressive disorder. A reduced ability to de¯ect attention from somatosensory stimuli may contribute to the generation of unpleasant bodily sensations and co-occur with altered habituation of the brain electric reactions to somatosensory stimuli. The aim of the present study was to explore whether attention-related components of somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) and the habituation of these components are altered in major depression. Fifteen patients with major depressive disorder were compared to an age-and gender-matched group of 15 healthy controls. A series of identical, intrusive but not painful electric stimuli were applied to the left index ®nger for 48 min. Averaged SSEP were computed from multichannel EEG recordings for consecutive recording blocks of the experiment, each block containing 162 stimuli. Based on these data the habituation process of late components of the SSEP was analysed in two latency intervals (50±150, 170±370 ms). Patients showed signi®cantly enhanced reactions throughout the entire experiment. The persistence of enhanced SSEP components throughout the habituation process may be caused by a de®cit in reducing the activity of attention-related brain processes concerned with intrusive, yet behaviourally irrelevant, continued stimulation in the state of major depression.

Endogenous evoked potentials assessment in depression: a review

European Psychiatry, 1996

SummaryOver the past 15 years, researchers have shown an increasing interest in using event-related potentials (ERPs) to study depression. These studies generally fall into four classes: 1), ERPs as a means of detecting depression; 2), ERPs as a tool for distinguishing subtypes of depression; 3), ERPs as a measure of pharmacological effectiveness; 4), ERPs as indicators of defective cognitive operations in depressed subjects. Results from these heterogeneous approaches are often inconsistent and disappointing. Although some ERP components often show increased latencies and diminished amplitudes, these changes seem to reflect principally a variety of non-specific disorders affecting a wide range of cognitive functions rather than a precise and consistent deficit of a particular function. These disappointing results seem to be attributable to methodological problems (heterogeneous patient populations, disproportionate use of the odd-ball paradigm), and do not necessarily call into que...

Event-related potentials (ERPs) to hemifield presentations of emotional stimuli: differences between depressed patients and healthy adults in P3 amplitude and asymmetry

International Journal of Psychophysiology, 2000

Depression may involve dysfunction of right parietotemporal cortex, a region activated during perception of Ž . affective stimuli. To further test this hypothesis, event-related brain potentials ERPs were measured in a paradigm previously shown to produce ERP asymmetries to affective stimuli over parietal sites in healthy adults. Pictures of Ž . Ž . patients with dermatological diseases showing disordered or healed facial areas before negative or after neutral surgical treatment were briefly exposed for 250 ms to either the left or right hemifield. ERPs of 30 unmedicated, unipolar depressed patients and 16 healthy adults, all right-handed, were recorded from 30 electrodes. A principal components analysis extracted factors which closely corresponded to distinctive ERP components previously reported Ž . for this task N1, N2, early P3, late P3, slow wave . Significant effects of emotional content, i.e. enhanced amplitudes to negative than neutral stimuli, were found for early and late P3. Control subjects showed significant hemispheric Ž . asymmetries of emotional processing for late P3 peak latency 460 ms , with the largest emotional content effects over the right parietal region. In striking contrast to control subjects, depressed patients did not show an increase in late P3 for negative compared to neutral stimuli over either hemisphere and had smaller late P3 amplitude than Ž . control subjects. Patients did, however, show larger early P3 peak latency 330 ms to negative than neutral stimuli. J. Kayser 0167-8760r00r$ -see front matter ᮊ 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S 0 1 6 7 -8 7 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 8 -7 ( ) J. Kayser et al. r International Journal of Psychophysiology 36 2000 211᎐236 212

The Relationship of Neuroticism, Psychoticism and Depression with Visual Evoked Potentials

Acta Neuropsychologica, 2016

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between visual evoked potentials (N1, P2, N2, P3 and Sw) and levels of neuroticism, psychoticism and depression. Based on previous research, longer EP-latencies were expected in more depressed subjects, and smaller EP-amplitudes in subjects with higher levels of neuroticism and psychoticism. The sample consisted of female psychology students (N=54), age 19-23, all right-handed. After measuring Eysenck's personality dimensions with EPQ/R, and depression with D-92, evoked potentials were measured in two trials by means of the EMG/EP device Medelec/TECA Sapphire II , 4E. Significantly lower P2-amplitudes, reflecting early stimuli processing, and lower N2-amplitudes, reflecting stimuli characteristic assignment, were found in subjects with higher neuroticism. The most stable relation, determined in both trials, was the one between P2-amplitude and neuroticism. Higher amplitudes of N2 and P3, representing attention allocation and memory updating, were significantly correlated with higher psychoticism. Finally, as expected, slow wave latency was significantly prolonged in more depressed subjects. Eysencks' personality theory and over-arousal hypothesis are used as theoretical frames for discussing the results and future research guidelines. The research findings significantly contribute to the understanding of biological determination within rarely explored personality traits, such as neuroticism, psychoticism and depression. However, since the research has some limitations, concrete guidelines for future electrophysiological studies in the field of human personality have been recommended.

A study of P300-event related evoked potential in the patients of major depression

Indian journal of physiology and pharmacology, 1999

Many studies involving various electrophysiological parameters have been conducted in psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and dementia to assess their cognitive dysfunctions. Not much reports are available in major depression. The present study was conducted in 20 patients of major depression to evaluate their cognitive functions in terms of P300. P300 or P3 wave of auditory event related evoked potentials (ERPs) is usually seen around 300 msec of presenting of target stimulus, if the subject is responding to it. Auditory ERPs were recorded using the standard 'odd ball' paradigm. The latencies of various components of ERPs N1, N2, P1, P2, and P3 were recorded and compared with those of 20 normal age and sex matched controls. The latency of P300 was found to be significantly delayed in cases of major depression as compared to that of controls. Other waves were also delayed in cases of depression but the difference was not statistically significant. Our results suggest th...

Somatosensory amplification and its relationship to somatosensory, auditory, and visual evoked and event-related potentials (P300)

Neuroscience Letters, 2007

Somatosensory amplification refers to the tendency to experience benign and ambiguous somatic sensation as intense, noxious, and disturbing. The construct is helpful in assessing the perceptual style of a variety of somatizing conditions, but there is no human study clarifying the effects of neurological function on somatosensory amplification. The present study examines the relationship between somatosensory amplification and different types of evoked potentials. In 33 healthy volunteers (mean age 24 years, 18 men), latencies and amplitudes were recorded using the following parameters: short-latency somatosensory, brainstem-auditory, and visual evoked potentials (SSEP, BAEP, and VEP, respectively) and auditory event-related potentials (ERP). All subjects completed questionnaires for the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS), 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and Profile of Mood State (POMS). The SSAS scores were significantly associated with the P200 latency (p = 0.020) and P300 amplitude of ERP (p = 0.041), controlling for the significant effect of the TAS and POMS depression and tension-anxiety scales. The SSEP, BAEP, and VEP latencies or amplitudes were not statistically significant (all p > 0.05). When the subjects were divided into high and low SSAS groups based on the median of the SSAS scores, the P300 amplitude of ERP significantly discriminated the two groups (p = 0.023) by multiple logistic regression analysis. Although the findings should be viewed as preliminary because of the small sample size, somatosensory amplification appears to reflect some aspects of long-latency cognitive processing rather than short-latency interceptive sensitivity from the viewpoint of encephalography.

Electrodermal activity and suicide risk assessment in patients with affective disorders

Psychiatria polska, 2020

There are questionnaires and scales, including self-assessment scales, used to evaluate suicide risk. Additionally, suicide risk factors (i.a., prior suicide attempts, willingness to commit suicide, somatic diseases, male gender) are also known. Their application, however, does not provide a sufficient guarantee for properly distinguishing persons with high and low suicide risk. In 1986, Gunnar Edman observed that there is an association between low electrodermal activity and suicidal tendencies, which was confirmed in other studies and meta-analyses. Electrodermal activity (EDA) is commonly considered to be a very good indicator of orienting reflex, which is a response to the information linked with a stimulus and, in a way, a physiological mechanism that helps an organism to survive. This phenomenon is related to habituation, the rate of which is a measure of EDA reactivity. Hyporeactivity consists in very rapid habituation of a stimulus, even after first exposure. According to La...

Familial risk for depression is associated with reduced P300 and late positive potential to affective stimuli and prolonged cardiac deceleration to unpleasant stimuli

Scientific Reports, 2023

Despite evidence of abnormal affective processing as a key correlate of depression, specific attentional mechanisms underlying processing of emotions in familial risk for depression have yet to be investigated in a single study. To this end, the amplitude of the P300 and late positive potential (LPP) complex and cardiac deceleration were assessed during the passive viewing of affective pictures in 32 individuals who had family history of depression (without depressive symptoms) and in 30 controls (without depressive symptoms and family history of depression). Individuals with familial risk for depression revealed reduced P300-LPP amplitudes in response to pleasant and unpleasant stimuli relative to controls, and comparable P300-LPP amplitudes in response to pleasant and neutral stimuli. Controls, but not individuals with familial risk for depression, reported cardiac deceleration during the viewing of pleasant vs. neutral and unpleasant stimuli in the 0-3 s time window. Also, only individuals with familial risk for depression showed a prolonged cardiac deceleration in response to unpleasant vs. neutral stimuli. Overall, the present study provides new insights into the characterization of emotionrelated attentional processes in familial risk for depression as potential vulnerability factors for the development of the disorder. Depression is one of the most severe and common psychopathological conditions, affecting over 280 million people worldwide 1. It is characterized by symptoms like sustained negative affect and anhedonia that negatively impact individuals' life with impairments in occupational and psychosocial functioning, and an increased risk for suicide 2. Given its relevance, the comprehension of psychophysiological mechanisms involved in the risk of developing depression, such as the familial risk for depression, is needed to understand how depression is heritable, to early identify depression, and to develop novel and effective prevention programs 3. Of note, to date, the most reliable risk factor for the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) is having a family history of the disorder 4,5. Indeed, the estimated heritability of depression is about 37% 6. However, despite advances in the knowledge of the psychobiology of MDD, no established mechanism can explain the risk of developing MDD 7,8. Previous studies investigating vulnerability factors for developing MDD have identified some personality traits 9-13 , blunted neural response to rewards 14-17 , reduced vagal control of the heart and higher levels of rumination 18,19 , and dysfunctional cognitive biases 20,21. Specifically, cognitive processes have been shown to highly influence the development of MDD and MDD-related symptoms 22,23. In cognitive models of depression, selfreferential schemas negatively affect attention leading to a deficit in the cognitive resources available to process salient information. Individuals usually show a greater tendency to orient and sustain attention toward affective and salient than neutral cues 24,25. According to cognitive models, individuals with depression are characterized