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

Abstract

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 emotion-related attentional processes in familial risk for depression as potential vulnerability factors for the development of the disorder.

Figure 1

Grand-average ERP waveforms recorded at Fz, Cz, and Pz to pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in the group with and without familial risk for depression. The colored frame represents the 400–600 ms time window.

Figure 2

Scalp topography of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in P300-LPP complex (400–600 ms) in the group with and without familial risk for depression.

Figure 3

Boxplot of P300-LPP complex peaks (averaged over channels) for each emotional category in the group with and without familial risk for depression. On each box, the central mark is the median and the edges of the box are the 25th and 75th percentiles. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Figure 4

Averaged heart rate change during the viewing of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in the group without (a) and with (b) familial risk for depression. Units are beats per minute (bpm) changes from 2 s baseline. Error bars represent ± standard error of the mean (SEM). **p < .01; ***p < .001.