AUTHOR=Tomasino Barbara , Piani Maria Chiara , Maggioni Eleonora , Bonivento Carolina , D’Agostini Serena , Balestrieri Matteo , Brambilla Paolo 

TITLE=First person state/psychological imagery modulates the orbital frontal gyrus and the putamen in individuals with depression

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1583482

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1583482

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=BackgroundPatients with depression appear to imagine scenes preferentially from a 3rd person perspective as if they were observers. Methods: By using functional magnetic resonance imaging we asked patients with major depressive disorder (19, MDD) and healthy controls (19, HC) to imagine 1st person perspective state/psychological (vs. action) scenes.ResultsWe found that the left superior frontal gyrus (orbital part) and the right putamen were differentially activated by the state/psychological (vs. action) imagery (vs. letter detection) in MDD individuals vs. HC.DiscussionWe suggest that imagery for state/psychological events increased activation in areas involved in self-related processing and personal perspective changes.