Is negative self-referent bias an endophenotype for depression? An fMRI study of emotional self-referent words in twins at high vs. low risk of depression

TY - JOUR

T1 - Is negative self-referent bias an endophenotype for depression? An fMRI study of emotional self-referent words in twins at high vs. low risk of depression

AU - Miskowiak, Kamilla Woznica

AU - Larsen, J E

AU - Harmer, C J

AU - Siebner, Hartwig Roman

AU - Kessing, Lars Vedel

AU - Macoveanu, J

AU - Vinberg, Maj

N1 - Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PY - 2018/1/15

Y1 - 2018/1/15

N2 - BACKGROUND: Negative cognitive bias and aberrant neural processing of self-referent emotional words seem to be trait-marks of depression. However, it is unclear whether these neurocognitive changes are present in unaffected first-degree relatives and constitute an illness endophenotype.METHODS: Fifty-three healthy, never-depressed monozygotic or dizygotic twins with a co-twin history of depression (high-risk group: n = 26) or no first-degree family history of depression (low-risk group: n = 27) underwent neurocognitive testing and functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) as part of a follow-up cohort study. Participants performed a self-referent emotional word categorisation task and free word recall task followed by a recognition task during fMRI. Participants also completed questionnaires assessing mood, personality traits and coping strategies.RESULTS: High-risk and low-risk twins (age, mean ± SD: 40 ± 11) were well-balanced for demographic variables, mood, coping and neuroticism. High-risk twins showed lower accuracy during self-referent categorisation of emotional words independent of valence and more false recollections of negative words than low-risk twins during free recall. Functional MRI yielded no differences between high-risk and low-risk twins in retrieval-specific neural activity for positive or negative words or during the recognition of negative versus positive words within the hippocampus or prefrontal cortex.CONCLUSIONS: The subtle display of negative recall bias is consistent with the hypothesis that self-referent negative memory bias is an endophenotype for depression. High-risk twins' lower categorisation accuracy adds to the evidence for valence-independent cognitive deficits in individuals at familial risk for depression.

AB - BACKGROUND: Negative cognitive bias and aberrant neural processing of self-referent emotional words seem to be trait-marks of depression. However, it is unclear whether these neurocognitive changes are present in unaffected first-degree relatives and constitute an illness endophenotype.METHODS: Fifty-three healthy, never-depressed monozygotic or dizygotic twins with a co-twin history of depression (high-risk group: n = 26) or no first-degree family history of depression (low-risk group: n = 27) underwent neurocognitive testing and functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) as part of a follow-up cohort study. Participants performed a self-referent emotional word categorisation task and free word recall task followed by a recognition task during fMRI. Participants also completed questionnaires assessing mood, personality traits and coping strategies.RESULTS: High-risk and low-risk twins (age, mean ± SD: 40 ± 11) were well-balanced for demographic variables, mood, coping and neuroticism. High-risk twins showed lower accuracy during self-referent categorisation of emotional words independent of valence and more false recollections of negative words than low-risk twins during free recall. Functional MRI yielded no differences between high-risk and low-risk twins in retrieval-specific neural activity for positive or negative words or during the recognition of negative versus positive words within the hippocampus or prefrontal cortex.CONCLUSIONS: The subtle display of negative recall bias is consistent with the hypothesis that self-referent negative memory bias is an endophenotype for depression. High-risk twins' lower categorisation accuracy adds to the evidence for valence-independent cognitive deficits in individuals at familial risk for depression.

KW - Adult

KW - Brain Mapping

KW - Cognition Disorders

KW - Cohort Studies

KW - Depressive Disorder/physiopathology

KW - Emotions/physiology

KW - Endophenotypes

KW - Female

KW - Hippocampus/physiology

KW - Humans

KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging

KW - Male

KW - Mental Recall

KW - Prefrontal Cortex/physiology

KW - Twins, Dizygotic

KW - Verbal Behavior/physiology

KW - Depression

KW - Cognition

KW - Familial risk

KW - Endophenotype

KW - FMRI

U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2017.10.013

DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2017.10.013

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29020651

SN - 0165-0327

VL - 226

SP - 267

EP - 273

JO - Journal of Affective Disorders

JF - Journal of Affective Disorders

ER -