Carlos A Tomaz1, Riccardo Barbieri2, Ronald G Garcia3,4,5, Gaetano Valenza6,2. 1. Laboratory of Neuroscience and Behavior, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia D.F., Brazil. 2. Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. 3. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA. 4. Division of Women's Health, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. 5. Masira Research Institute, School of Medicine, Universidad de Santander (UDES), Bucaramanga, Colombia. 6. Research Center E. Piaggio, School of Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest that autonomic reactivity during encoding of emotional information could modulate the neural processes mediating mood-congruent memory. In this study, we use a point-process model to determine dynamic autonomic tone in response to negative emotions and its influence on long-term memory of major depressed subjects. METHODS: Forty-eight patients with major depression and 48 healthy controls were randomly assigned to either neutral or emotionally arousing audiovisual stimuli. An adaptive point-process algorithm was applied to compute instantaneous estimates of the spectral components of heart rate variability [Low frequency (LF), 0.04-0.15 Hz; High frequency (HF), 0.15-0.4 Hz]. Three days later subjects were submitted to a recall test. RESULTS: A significant increase in HF power was observed in depressed subjects in response to the emotionally arousing stimulus (p=0.03). The results of a multivariate analysis revealed that the HF power during the emotional segment of the stimulus was independently associated with the score of the recall test in depressed subjects, after adjusting for age, gender and educational level (Coef. 0.003, 95%CI, 0.0009-0.005, p=0.008). LIMITATIONS: These results could only be interpreted as responses to elicitation of specific negative emotions, the relationship between HF changes and encoding/recall of positive stimuli should be further examined. CONCLUSIONS: Alterations on parasympathetic response to emotion are involved in the mood-congruent cognitive bias observed in major depression. These findings are clinically relevant because it could constitute the mechanism by which depressed patients maintain maladaptive patterns of negative information processing that trigger and sustain depressed mood.
BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest that autonomic reactivity during encoding of emotional information could modulate the neural processes mediating mood-congruent memory. In this study, we use a point-process model to determine dynamic autonomic tone in response to negative emotions and its influence on long-term memory of major depressed subjects. METHODS: Forty-eight patients with major depression and 48 healthy controls were randomly assigned to either neutral or emotionally arousing audiovisual stimuli. An adaptive point-process algorithm was applied to compute instantaneous estimates of the spectral components of heart rate variability [Low frequency (LF), 0.04-0.15 Hz; High frequency (HF), 0.15-0.4 Hz]. Three days later subjects were submitted to a recall test. RESULTS: A significant increase in HF power was observed in depressed subjects in response to the emotionally arousing stimulus (p=0.03). The results of a multivariate analysis revealed that the HF power during the emotional segment of the stimulus was independently associated with the score of the recall test in depressed subjects, after adjusting for age, gender and educational level (Coef. 0.003, 95%CI, 0.0009-0.005, p=0.008). LIMITATIONS: These results could only be interpreted as responses to elicitation of specific negative emotions, the relationship between HF changes and encoding/recall of positive stimuli should be further examined. CONCLUSIONS: Alterations on parasympathetic response to emotion are involved in the mood-congruent cognitive bias observed in major depression. These findings are clinically relevant because it could constitute the mechanism by which depressed patients maintain maladaptive patterns of negative information processing that trigger and sustain depressed mood.
Authors: Greg J Siegle; Stuart R Steinhauer; Michael E Thase; V Andrew Stenger; Cameron S Carter Journal: Biol Psychiatry Date: 2002-05-01 Impact factor: 13.382
Authors: M T Mitterschiffthaler; S C R Williams; N D Walsh; A J Cleare; C Donaldson; J Scott; C H Y Fu Journal: Psychol Med Date: 2007-09-10 Impact factor: 7.723
Authors: Marco A M Peluso; David C Glahn; Koji Matsuo; E Serap Monkul; Pablo Najt; Frank Zamarripa; Jinqi Li; Jack L Lancaster; Peter T Fox; Jia-Hong Gao; Jair C Soares Journal: Psychiatry Res Date: 2009-06-28 Impact factor: 3.222
Authors: Gaetano Valenza; Ronald G Garcia; Luca Citi; Enzo P Scilingo; Carlos A Tomaz; Riccardo Barbieri Journal: Front Physiol Date: 2015-03-13 Impact factor: 4.566
Authors: Taylor A James; Samuel Weiss-Cowie; Zachary Hopton; Paul Verhaeghen; Vonetta M Dotson; Audrey Duarte Journal: Psychol Bull Date: 2021-11 Impact factor: 23.027
Authors: Jill M Goldstein; Taben Hale; Simmie L Foster; Stuart A Tobet; Robert J Handa Journal: Neuropsychopharmacology Date: 2018-07-07 Impact factor: 7.853