Relationship between amygdala responses to masked faces and mood state and treatment in major depressive disorder.

ABSTRACT:

Context

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with behavioral and neurophysiological evidence of mood-congruent processing biases toward explicitly presented, emotionally valenced stimuli. However, few studies have investigated such biases toward implicitly presented stimuli.

Objective

To investigate differential amygdala responses to sad, happy, and neutral faces presented below the level of explicit conscious awareness using a backward masking task in unmedicated participants with MDD and healthy controls (HCs).

Design

Initial cross-sectional design followed by a longitudinal treatment trial using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Setting

Psychiatric outpatient clinic at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Participants

We studied 22 u

SUBMITTER: Victor TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3253452 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature