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Perceptual and physiological dysfunction in depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

I. M. Blackburn,
H. M. Roxborough,
W. J. Muir,
M. Glabus and
D. H. R. Blackwood
I. M. Blackburn*
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital and the Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Physics, University of Edinburgh
H. M. Roxborough
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital and the Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Physics, University of Edinburgh
W. J. Muir
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital and the Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Physics, University of Edinburgh
M. Glabus
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital and the Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Physics, University of Edinburgh
D. H. R. Blackwood
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital and the Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Physics, University of Edinburgh
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr I. M. Blackburn, MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF.
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Synopsis

P300 responses to emotive words of different hedonic tones were assessed in depressed patients (unipolar major), patients recovered from the same type of depression and normal controls. Depressed patients showed a smaller amplitude of P300 in response to negatively toned words than to positive words; normal controls showed the opposite pattern and recovered patients showed a pattern of response which resembled that of depressed patients. The experimental trials comparing responses to negative and positive stimuli in relation to neutral words showed significant differences for negative as compared with neutral stimuli, but not for positive as compared with neutral stimuli. Latencies of P300 did not differentiate depressed patients from normal controls. The results are discussed within the context of the ‘expectancy’ theory of information processing.

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , February 1990, pp. 95 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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