Citation

Mardaga S, Iakimova G. Neurophysiol. Clin. 2014; 44(5): 447-455.

Affiliation

Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Psychologie Cognitives et Sociales (LAPCOS, EA 7278), 3, boulevard François-Mitterrand, 06357 Nice cedex 4, France. Electronic address: iakimova@unice.fr.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.neucli.2014.08.007

PMID

25438977

Abstract

AIMS OF THE STUDY: Neurocognition may constitute one of the numerous factors that mediate the reciprocal influences between personality and depression. The present study explored the influence of personality and anxiety traits on the neurocognitive processing of emotional faces and specifically focused on personal characteristics related to negative (harm avoidance - HA) and positive affectivity (self-directedness - SD) and to anxiety. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty participants with self-reported depressive symptoms and 18 control participants were selected based on their BDI-II scores. Personality (TCI-R), anxiety and attention were measured and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during an implicit emotional face perception task (fear, sadness, happiness, neutrality).

RESULTS: The participants who self-reported depressive symptoms had higher HA, lower SD and higher anxiety compared to controls. Controls showed enhanced P300 and LPP amplitudes for fear. Individuals with self-reported depression showed reduced ERPs amplitudes for happiness. HA did not account for the difference between the groups but high HA and high anxiety were positively correlated with enhanced P300 amplitude for fear in participants with depressive symptoms. In contrast, SD accounted for the difference between the groups but was not correlated to the ERP components' amplitudes recorded for facial expressions. Other personality dimensions (reward dependence, cooperativeness) influenced the ERPs recorded for facial emotions.

CONCLUSION: Personality dimensions influence the neurocognitive processing of emotional faces in individuals with self-reported depressive symptoms, which may constitute a cognitive vulnerability to depression.

Language: en