A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of verbal working memory in young people at increased familial risk of depression

Article


Mannie, Z., Harmer, C., Cowen, P. and Norbury, R. 2010. A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of verbal working memory in young people at increased familial risk of depression. Biological Psychiatry. 67 (5), pp. 471-477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.10.006
TypeArticle
TitleA functional magnetic resonance imaging study of verbal working memory in young people at increased familial risk of depression
AuthorsMannie, Z., Harmer, C., Cowen, P. and Norbury, R.
Abstract

Background:
Patients with depression show abnormalities in the neural circuitry supporting working memory. These abnormalities apparently persist into clinical remission, raising the possibility that they might be trait markers indicating vulnerability to depression.
Methods:
We studied 17 young people who had a depressed parent but no personal history of depressive illness (FH) and 15 healthy control subjects with no family history of depression. Participants performed a verbal working memory task of varying cognitive load (n-back) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. We used multiple regression analyses to assess overall capacity (1-, 2-, 3-back vs. 0-back) as well as linear and quadratic modulation of cognitive demand.
Results:
Performance accuracy and response latency did not differ between groups, and overall capacity was similar. However, for both linear and quadratic load response activity, FH participants showed greater activation in lateral occipital cortex, superior temporal cortex, and superior parietal cortex.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest that, as in depressed patients, maintenance of task performance in FH participants is associated with a significant increase in the load-response activity of the cortical regions involved in working memory. This neural abnormality could form part of the predisposition to develop depressive disorders.

KeywordsDepression; fMRI; high-risk; n-back; working memory
Research GroupApplied Health Psychology group
PublisherElsevier
JournalBiological Psychiatry
ISSN0006-3223
Publication dates
Print2010
Publication process dates
Deposited11 Oct 2013
Output statusPublished
Additional information

This article belongs to a special issue, Cortical Inhibitory Deficits in Depression

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.10.006
LanguageEnglish
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