Emotion-Processing Biases and Neural Connectivity in Remitted Major Depressive Disorder Among Adolescents

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) among adolescents is recurrent and characterized by persistent emotion-processing biases. Adolescents ( N  = 161; ages 13–18 years old; remitted MDD: n  = 90; healthy control subjects: n  = 71) completed baseline and 6-month clinical assessments. In addition, at baseline, participants completed the facial-recognition task while electroencephalogram data were recorded. The late positive potential (LPP) and effective connectivity during negative emotion processing were examined in relation to 6-month depressive symptoms and behavioral withdrawal (homestay from passive GPS data). No group differences in LPP emerged. However, remitted MDD showed stronger right precuneus-superior frontal gyrus (theta-alpha) to sad faces and weaker left precuneus-superior frontal gyrus (alpha-beta) to angry faces relative to control subjects. Greater right precuneus-superior frontal gyrus connectivity during sad faces predicted depressive-symptom severity ( b  = 0.221, p  = .025) and increased homestay ( b  = 242.78, p  = .048). Thus, altered precuneus-superior frontal gyrus connectivity during sad-face processing may serve as a neural marker of depression risk, which could support early identification approaches and personalized interventions.