2024 Articles

Feedback negativity and feedback‐related P3 in individuals at risk for depression: Comparing surface potentials and current source densities

Gao, Yifan; Panier, Lidia Y. X.; Gameroff, Marc J.; Auerbach, Randy P.; Posner, Jonathan; Weissman, Myrna M.; Kayser, Jürgen

Blunted responses to reward feedback have been linked to major depressive ­disorder (MDD) and depression risk. Using a monetary incentive delay task (win, loss, break-­even), we investigated the impact of family risk for depression and lifetime history of MDD and anxiety disorder with 72-c­ hannel electroencephalograms (EEG) recorded from 29 high-­risk and 32 low-­risk individuals (15–­58 years, 30 male). Linked-m­ astoid surface potentials (ERPs) and their corresponding reference-f­ree current source densities (CSDs) were quantified by temporal principal components analysis (PCA). Each PCA solution revealed a midfrontal feedback negativity (FN; peak around 310 ms) and a posterior feedback-­P3 (fb-­ P3; 380 ms) as two distinct reward processing stages. Unbiased permutation tests and multilevel modeling of component scores revealed greater FN to loss than win and neutral for all stratification groups, confirming FN sensitivity to valence. Likewise, all groups had greater fb-­P3 to win and loss than neutral, confirming that fb-P­ 3 indexes motivational salience and allocation of attention. By contrast, group effects were subtle, dependent on data transformation (ERP, CSD), and did not confirm reduced FN or fb-­P3 for at-­risk individuals. Instead, CSD-­based fb-­P3 was overall reduced in individuals with than without MDD history, whereas ERP-­ based fb-P­ 3 was greater for high-r­ isk individuals than for low-r­ isk individuals for monetary, but not neutral outcomes. While the present findings do not support blunted reward processing in depression and depression risk, our side-­by-s­ide comparison underscores how the EEG reference choice affects the characterization of subtle group differences, strongly advocating the use of reference-f­ree techniques.