The P300 ERP component: an index of cognitive dysfunction xin depression?

doi:10.1016/0165-0327(94)90124-4

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 31, Issue 1, May 1994, Pages 29-38

https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-0327(94)90124-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

A number of measures of brain function have suggested that depression is associated with cerebral hypoactivity. This study examines the late components of the event-related potential (ERP), in particular the P300 component, in depression. The P300 component is thought to index the updating of neurocognitive models which are concerned with the prediction of future events. Cognitive theories of depression include the proposition that depression may be characterized by abnormalities in the prediction of future events. The P300 component may therefore provide one neurophysiological index of cognitive dysfunction in depression. Twenty-seven subjects (14 medicated, 13 drug-free) fulfilling DSM-III criteria for Major Depression were compared to 27 age- and sex-matched normal controls. The amplitudes and latencies of N100, P200, N200 and P300 ERP components, reaction time and task accuracy were recorded during a standard auditory discrimination task. No significant differences were found in any ERP component measure or in reaction-time between the groups. Depressed subjects performed the experimental task significantly less accurately than normal controls, but this was not reflected in the ERPs.

References (74)

W.S. Brown et al.
Cognitive function, mood and P3 latency: effects of the amelioration of anaemia in dialysis patients
Neuropsychologia
(1991)
G.E. Bruder et al.
Event-related potentials in depression: influence of task, stimulus hemifield and clinical features on P3 latency
Biol. Psychiatry
(1991)
B. Diner et al.
P300 in major depressive disorder
Psych. Res.
(1985)
H. Giedke et al.
The relation between P3 latency and reaction time in depression
Biol. Psychol.
(1981)
D.S. Goodin
P300 as a biological marker of dementia
Biol. Psychiatry
(1986)
E. Gordon et al.
The differential diagnosis of dementia using P300 latency
Biol. Psychiatry
(1986)
V. Knott et al.
Electrophysiological and behavioural correlates of psychomotor reponsivity in depression
Biol. Psychiatry
(1987)
J.G. Leppler et al.
The P3 potential and its clinical usefulness in the objective classification of dementia
Cortex
(1984)
I. Martin et al.
Reaction times and somatic reactivity in depressed patients
J. Psychosom. Res.
(1966)
J.V. Patterson et al.
Latency variability of the components of auditory event-related potentials to infrequent stimuli in aging. Alzheimer-type dementia and depression
EEG
(1988)

A. Pfefferbaum et al.

Clinical application of the P3 component of event-related potentials

EEG

(1984)

J. Polich et al.

P300 latency reflects the degree of cognitive decline in dementing illness

EEG

(1986)

W.T. Roth et al.

Event-related potentials in schizophrenics

EEG

(1980)

W.T. Roth et al.

Auditory ERPs in schizophrenia and depression

Psych. Res.

(1981)

P. Thier et al.

Slow brain potentials and psychomotor retardation in depression

EEG

(1986)

T. Allison

Recording and interpreting event related potentials

American Psychiatric Association

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

(1987)

R. Baldessarini

A summary of biomedical aspects of depression

J.P. Banquet et al.

Probability processing in depressed patients

J. Baribreau-Braun et al.

ERP assessment of psychomotor retardation in depressives

Adv. Biol. Psychiatry

(1983)

J. Baribreau-Braun et al.

Schizophrenia: a neurophysiological evaluation of abnormal information processing

Science

(1983)

J.R. Baxter et al.

Ritalin in PET scans of depression and normals — APA New Research Abstracts

(1983)

J.R. Baxter et al.

Cerebral metabolic rates for glucose in mood disorders. Studies with positron emmission tomography and flourodeoxyglucose F18

Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

(1985)

A.T. Beck et al.

Anxiety and depression — an information processing perspective

Anxiety Res.

(1988)

A.T. Beck et al.

An inventory for measuring depression

Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

(1961)

A.T. Beck et al.

Cognitive Therapy of Depression

(1979)

I.M. Blackburn et al.

Perceptual and physiological dysfunction in depression

Psychol. Med.

(1990)

D. Blackwood et al.

Changes in auditory P3 event-related potential in schizophrenia and depression

Br. J. Psychiatry

(1987)

J.L. Blom et al.

An electrode cap tested

EEG

(1982)

J.D. Brodie et al.

Evaluation of regional glucose

W.S. Brown et al.

Event-related potentials in psychiatry: differentiating depression and dementia in the elderly

Bull. L.A. Neurol. Soc.

(1982)

D.G. Byrne

Choice reaction time in depressive states

Br. J. Soc. Clin. Psychol.

(1976)

E. Callaway et al.

Effects of oral scopolamine on human stimulus evaluation

Psychopharmacology

(1985)

B.J. Carrol

The dexamethasone supression test for melancholia

Br. J. Psychiatry

(1982)

G. Chayasirisobhon et al.

Event-related potentials in Alzheimer's disease

Clin. Electroenceph.

(1986)

K.H. Chiappa

Evoked Potentials in Clinical Medicine

(1983)

D. Dixon

BMDP Statistical Software

(1983)

Cited by (61)

The P300 and late positive potential in pregnancy prospectively predict increases in depressive and anxious symptoms in the early postpartum period
2022, Journal of Affective Disorders
Citation Excerpt :
Our results suggest that antenatal depressive symptoms may be essential for understanding the prospective relationship between P300 amplitude and subsequent increases in depressive symptomology in mothers. This finding may also explain why the results of previous studies examining associations between the P300 and depression are mixed (Bruder et al., 2012; Hansenne et al., 1996; Kaustio et al., 2002; Sara et al., 1994). That is, the P300 may best predict increases in depression in the context of elevated baseline depressive symptoms.
Postnatal depression and anxiety disorders pose a major burden on maternal mental health. While psychosocial risk factors for perinatal depression and anxiety are well-researched, there is a dearth of research examining neural biomarkers of risk for postnatal increases in depression and anxiety. Previous studies suggest two different event-related potentials, the P300 and the late positive potential (LPP), may predict the course of depressive and anxious symptoms in non-perinatal populations. In a sample of 221 perinatal women, the present study utilized an emotional interrupt task administered in pregnancy to examine whether antenatal P300 and LPP amplitudes may predict change in depressive and anxious symptoms from pregnancy to the early postpartum period. Zero-order correlations and linear regressions revealed that a reduced antenatal P300 to target stimuli and an enhanced LPP to positive infant images were uniquely associated with postnatal depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively, and that these ERPs were independent predictors beyond antenatal self-report measures of psychological symptoms. Furthermore, individuals with increased depressive symptoms in pregnancy exhibited a stronger negative association between antenatal P300 amplitude and postnatal depressive symptoms. The present findings underscore the possibility that the measurement of ERPs during pregnancy could serve as a screening tool for risk for perinatal depression and anxiety, and thereby assist with identifying at-risk individuals who might benefit from prevention efforts.
Auditory event-related potentials in separating patients with depressive disorders and non-depressed controls: A narrative review
2022, International Journal of Psychophysiology
Citation Excerpt :
Barreiros et al. (2020) and Houston et al. (2004) found no differences in P3b amplitude between symptom-remitted depressive disorder patients and never-depressed controls, and Gangadhar et al. (1993) and van Dinteren et al. (2015) reported a negative correlation between P3b amplitude and depression severity. In contrast, several studies showed that P3b amplitude does not correlate with depression severity (Barreiros et al., 2020; Blackwood et al., 1987; Hansenne et al., 1996; Karaaslan et al., 2003; Murthy et al., 1997; Roth et al., 1981; Sara et al., 1994; Urretavizcaya et al., 2003; Vandoolaeghe et al., 1998; Yanai et al., 1997) suggesting that P3b might rather be a trait marker of depression. Thus, the results are conflicting, and more research is required.
This narrative review brings together the findings regarding the differences in the auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) between patients with depressive disorder and non-depressed control subjects. These studies' results can inform us of the possible alterations in sensory-cognitive processing in depressive disorders and the potential of using these ERPs in clinical applications. Auditory P3, mismatch negativity (MMN) and loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP) were the subjects of the investigation. A search in PubMed yielded 84 studies. The findings of the reviewed studies were not highly consistent, but some patterns could be identified. For auditory P3b, the common findings were attenuated amplitude and prolonged latency among depressed patients. Regarding auditory MMN, especially the amplitude of duration deviance MMN was commonly attenuated, and the amplitude of frequency deviance MMN was increased in depressed patients. In LDAEP studies, generally, no differences between depressed patients and non-depressed controls were reported, although some group differences concerning specific depression subtypes were found. This review posits that future research should investigate whether certain stimulus conditions are particularly efficient at separating depressed and non-depressed participant groups. Future studies should contrast responses in different subpopulations of depressed patients, as well as different clinical groups (e.g., depressive disorder and anxiety disorder patients), to investigate the specificity of the auditory ERP alterations for depressive disorders.
Alterations of novelty processing in major depressive disorder
2021, Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
Citation Excerpt :
The medicated status of the participants could have altered our observations given the variety of the medications used by our participants (e.g., medication ranging from serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors to benzodiazepines and atypical antipsychotics). It has been suggested that the use of anti-depressants can alter N200 amplitude (Sara et al., 1994) causing a decrease in amplitude compared to non-medicated controls; however, there appears to be no effect of medication on the P300 (Isintas et al., 2012). Future studies may wish to include an equal number of medicated and non-medicated individuals, controlling for medication type to better understand the relationship medication may have on ERP expression.
State or trait? Auditory event-related potentials in adolescents with current and remitted major depression
2018, Neuropsychologia
Citation Excerpt :
The results on the N200 component are also equivocal: some studies reported reduced auditory N200 amplitudes in adults with MD (El Massioui et al., 1996; El Massioui and Lesèvre, 1988; Iv et al., 2010) indicating difficulties in automatic matching the presented stimulus to the internal representation of the attended stimulus (El Massioui and Lesèvre, 1988). However, other studies reported a greater N200 latency (Urretavizcaya et al., 2003) and amplitude (Bruder et al., 1998) or no group differences (Kemp et al., 2009; Sara et al., 1994) in adults with MD. Finally, findings on the early components N100 and P200 are also mixed: some studies reported that participants with MD (compared to controls) show an increased P200 amplitude (e.g. Kemp et al., 2009; Kemp et al., 2010), an enhanced P200 latency (Kemp et al., 2009), a prolonged N100 latency (Urretavizcaya et al., 2003), or a smaller N100 amplitude (El Massioui and Lesèvre, 1988).
Event-related potential (ERP) studies have revealed abnormal neurophysiological patterns underlying selective attention in patients with Major Depression (MD). Only few included both patients in acute and remitted state to address the question whether these abnormalities are state- or trait- dependent and none focused on adolescent MD. Thus, the aim of our study was to address this question in an adolescent sample.
22 adolescents with acute MD, 20 adolescents with remitted MD (rMD) and 32 healthy controls (HC) performed a standard two-tone auditory oddball task while ERPs (N100, P200, N200, P300) were collected.
Adolescents with rMD showed a reduced N200 amplitude to target tones across frontal, central and parietal recording sites. Adolescents with MD exhibited a reduced N200 amplitude to targets in the frontal region compared to HC. No differences emerged between rMD and the MD group.
The reduced N200 amplitude in adolescents with rMD and MD presumably reflects difficulties in stimulus classification and response selection. Our results indicate that this neurophysiological characteristic is a trait marker of adolescent depression.
Auditory selective attention in adolescents with major depression: An event-related potential study
2015, Journal of Affective Disorders
Citation Excerpt :
The oddball paradigm is a relatively easy task, resulting in a ceiling effect for hit rates in both groups, thus reducing the possibility of finding group differences. Unlike many previous studies in depressed adults (Kemp et al., 2009, 2010; Iv et al., 2010; but see, e.g., Sara et al., 1994; Campanella et al., 2010), we did not find slowed reaction times in adolescents with MD. This discrepancy might be explained by differences between the age groups investigated.
Major depression (MD) is associated with deficits in selective attention. Previous studies in adults with MD using event-related potentials (ERPs) reported abnormalities in the neurophysiological correlates of auditory selective attention. However, it is yet unclear whether these findings can be generalized to MD in adolescence. Thus, the aim of the present ERP study was to explore the neural mechanisms of auditory selective attention in adolescents with MD.
24 male and female unmedicated adolescents with MD and 21 control subjects were included in the study. ERPs were collected during an auditory oddball paradigm.
Depressive adolescents tended to show a longer N100 latency to target and non-target tones. Moreover, MD subjects showed a prolonged latency of the P200 component to targets. Across groups, longer P200 latency was associated with a decreased tendency of disinhibited behavior as assessed by a behavioral questionnaire.
To be able to draw more precise conclusions about differences between the neural bases of selective attention in adolescents vs. adults with MD, future studies should include both age groups and apply the same experimental setting across all subjects.
The study provides strong support for abnormalities in the neurophysiolgical bases of selective attention in adolecents with MD at early stages of auditory information processing. Absent group differences in later ERP components reflecting voluntary attentional processes stand in contrast to results reported in adults with MD and may suggest that adolescents with MD possess mechanisms to compensate for abnormalities in the early stages of selective attention.
Auditory P3 in antidepressant pharmacotherapy treatment responders, non-responders and controls
2013, European Neuropsychopharmacology
Event-related potentials (ERPs), derived from electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings, can index electrocortical activity related to cognitive operations. The fronto–central P3a ERP is involved in involuntary processing of novel auditory information, whereas the parietal P3b indexes controlled attention processing. The amplitude of the auditory P3b has been found to be decreased in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, few studies have examined the relations between the P3b, the related P3a, and antidepressant treatment response. We tested 53 unmedicated individuals (25 females) with MDD, as well as 43 non-depressed controls (23 females) on the novelty oddball task, wherein infrequent deviant (target) and frequent standard (non-target) tones were presented, along with infrequent novel (non-target/distractor) sounds. The P3a and P3b ERPs were assessed to novel and target sounds, respectively, as were their accompanying behavioral performance measures. Depression ratings and the antidepressant response status were assessed following 12 weeks of pharmacotherapy with three different regimens. Antidepressant treatment non-responders had smaller baseline P3a/b amplitudes than responders and healthy controls. Baseline P3b amplitude also weakly predicted the extent of depression rating changes by week 12. Females exhibited larger P3a/b amplitudes than males. With respect to task performance, controls had more target hits than treatment non-responders. ERP measures correlated with clinical changes in males and with behavioral measures in females. These results suggest that greater (or control-like) baseline P3a/b amplitudes are associated with a positive antidepressant response, and that gender differences characterize the P3 and, by extension, basic attentive processes.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

The P300 ERP component: an index of cognitive dysfunction xin depression?

Abstract

Neuropsychologia

Biol. Psychiatry

Psych. Res.

Biol. Psychol.

Biol. Psychiatry

Biol. Psychiatry

Biol. Psychiatry

Cortex

J. Psychosom. Res.

EEG

EEG

EEG

EEG

Psych. Res.

EEG

Recording and interpreting event related potentials

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

A summary of biomedical aspects of depression

Probability processing in depressed patients

ERP assessment of psychomotor retardation in depressives

Adv. Biol. Psychiatry

Schizophrenia: a neurophysiological evaluation of abnormal information processing

Science

Ritalin in PET scans of depression and normals — APA New Research Abstracts

Cerebral metabolic rates for glucose in mood disorders. Studies with positron emmission tomography and flourodeoxyglucose F18

Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

Anxiety and depression — an information processing perspective

Anxiety Res.

An inventory for measuring depression

Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

Cognitive Therapy of Depression

Perceptual and physiological dysfunction in depression

Psychol. Med.

Changes in auditory P3 event-related potential in schizophrenia and depression

Br. J. Psychiatry

An electrode cap tested

EEG

Evaluation of regional glucose

Event-related potentials in psychiatry: differentiating depression and dementia in the elderly

Bull. L.A. Neurol. Soc.

Choice reaction time in depressive states

Br. J. Soc. Clin. Psychol.

Effects of oral scopolamine on human stimulus evaluation

Psychopharmacology

The dexamethasone supression test for melancholia

Br. J. Psychiatry

Event-related potentials in Alzheimer's disease

Clin. Electroenceph.

Evoked Potentials in Clinical Medicine

BMDP Statistical Software