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Neurological and affective vulnerability to depression: A prospective study.

Michael D. Tooley1*, Rosie Moody1 and Gina M. Grimshaw1
  • 1 Victoria University of Wellington, Psychology, New Zealand

The Diathesis Stress hypothesis predicts that when life stress increases, vulnerable individuals will experience more depressive symptoms than resilient individuals. The current longitudinal study examined two potential diatheses; greater right than left frontal activity (Thibodeau et al, 2006) and poor emotion regulation (Jackson et al., 2003). At Time 1 we investigated the relationship between frontal asymmetry and spontaneous emotion regulation in young women with no history of depression. Resting frontal asymmetry was assessed by EEG recording of alpha power over frontal sites (Coan & Allen, 2004)). The startle eye-blink paradigm was used to assess emotion reactivity and spontaneous emotion regulation (Bradley et al., 1999). Participants passively viewed pleasant, neutral and unpleasant images while startle probes were presented – either during the image or one second after offset. The rightward group showed ongoing emotional reactivity after the offset of unpleasant images, whereas the leftward asymmetry group did not. This finding suggests that rightward individuals are slower to spontaneously regulate emotional responses. At Time 2, three months later, we assessed life stress and depressive symptoms using the Life Events Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. After controlling for depression at Time 1, greater life stress predicted more depressive symptoms but this relationship was dependent on emotion regulation. Life stress predicted more depressive symptoms for poorer emotion regulators only. Despite its correlation with emotion regulation, frontal asymmetry did not predict Time 2 depressive symptoms. Emotion regulation appears to be the better candidate mechanism of vulnerability to depression.

References

Bradley, M. M., Cuthbert, B. N., & Lang, P. J. (1999). Affect and the Startle Reflex. In M. E. Dawson, A. M. Schell, & A. H. Bohmelt (Eds.), Startle modification: Implications for Neuroscience, Cognitive Science and Clinical Science. (p. 157). USA: Cambridge University Press.

Coan, J. a, & Allen, J. J. B. (2004). Frontal EEG asymmetry as a moderator and mediator of emotion. Biological psychology, 67(1-2), 7–49.

Jackson, D. C., Mueller, C. J., Dolski, I., Dalton, K. M., Nitschke, J. B., Urry, H. L., Rosenkranz, M. a, et al. (2003). Now you feel it, now you don’t: frontal brain electrical asymmetry and individual differences in emotion regulation. Psychological science, 14(6), 612–7.

Thibodeau, R., Jorgensen, R. S., & Kim, S. (2006). Depression, anxiety, and resting frontal EEG asymmetry: a meta-analytic review. Journal of abnormal psychology, 115(4), 715–29.

Keywords: Emotion Regulation, Depression, Startle Reaction, Electroencephalography, Emotional Images

Conference: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Emotion and Social

Citation: Tooley MD, Moody R and Grimshaw GM (2012). Neurological and affective vulnerability to depression: A prospective study.. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00171

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Received: 14 Oct 2012; Published Online: 17 Nov 2012.

* Correspondence: Mr. Michael D Tooley, Victoria University of Wellington, Psychology, Wellington, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand, michael_tooley@hotmail.com