Abstract
Objective: To explore the characteristics of expression recognition and spontaneous activity of the resting state brain in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients to find the neural basis of expression recognition and emotional processing.Methods: In this study, two of the six facial expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, aversion, and surprise) were presented in quick succession using a short expression recognition test. The differences in facial expression recognition between MDD patients and healthy people were compared. Further, the differences in ReHo values between the two groups were compared using a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan to investigate the characteristics of spontaneous brain activity in the resting state and its relationship with clinical symptoms and the accuracy of facial expression recognition in patients with MDD.Results: (1) The accuracy of facial expression recognition in patients with MDD was lower than that of the HC group. There were differences in facial expression recognition between the two groups in sadness-anger (p = 0.026), surprise-aversion (p = 0.038), surprise-happiness (p = 0.014), surprise-sadness (p = 0.019), fear-happiness (p = 0.027), and fear-anger (p = 0.009). The reaction time for facial expression recognition in the patient group was significantly longer than that of the HC group. (2) Compared with the HC group, the ReHo values decreased in the left parahippocampal gyrus, left thalamus, right putamen, left putamen, and right angular gyrus, and increased in the left superior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, left medial superior frontal gyrus, and right medial superior frontal gyrus in the patient group. (3) Spearman correlation analysis showed no statistical correlation between ReHo and HAMD-17 scores in MDD patients (p > 0.05). The ReHo value of the left putamen was negatively correlated with the recognition of fear-surprise (r = −0.429, p = 0.016), the ReHo value of the right angular gyrus was positively correlated with the recognition of sadness-anger (r = 0.367, p = 0.042), and the ReHo value of the right medial superior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with the recognition of fear-anger (r = −0.377, p = 0.037).Conclusion: In view of the different performance of patients with MDD in facial expression tasks, facial expression recognition may have some suggestive effect on the diagnosis of depression and has clinical guiding significance. Many brain regions, including the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, striatum, hippocampus, and thalamus, in patients with MDD show extensive ReHo abnormalities in the resting state. These brain regions with abnormal spontaneous neural activity are important components of LCSPT and LTC circuits, and their dysfunctional functions cause disorder of emotion regulation. The changes in spontaneous activity in the left putamen, right angular gyrus, and right medial superior frontal gyrus may represent the abnormal pattern of spontaneous brain activity in the neural circuits related to emotion perception and may be the neural basis of facial expression recognition.
Highlights
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mood disorder characterized by significant and persistent mood depression accompanied by significant difficulty in emotional regulation
We find that compared with healthy controls, the abnormal regional homogeneity (ReHo) values of the whole brain in MDD patients are widely distributed in multiple brain regions in the resting state
In the analysis of the correlation between the ReHo value of patients with MDD and the accuracy of facial expression recognition, we found that the ReHo value of the right angular gyrus was positively correlated with the recognition of sadnessanger (r = 0.367, P = 0.042), suggesting that dysfunction of the angular gyrus may be the abnormal manifestations of the LCSTC and LCSPT neural circuits in patients with MDD
Summary
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mood disorder characterized by significant and persistent mood depression accompanied by significant difficulty in emotional regulation. In addition to emotional symptoms, MDD patients suffer from cognitive decline to varying degrees, resulting in varying degrees of impairment of social function. In this situation, do the patients themselves struggle, but considerable burden is placed on their families and society as well. As one of the most obvious ways to identify a person’s emotional state, is an important information source in social communication and plays an essential role in daily communication. As part of social cognition, facial expression recognition is an important social skill that facilitates understanding in social interactions while reflecting an individual’s social ability. The patients’ impaired facial expression recognition ability and negative cognitive processing bias may explain the impaired social function
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