ID 149 – Emotional modulation of CNV in unipolar vs bipolar depression during unconscious cue-picture association

Abstract

Objectives We aimed at studying the differences in brain activity of patients with uni- and bipolar depression, recorded during the anticipation of negative emotional vs neutral visual stimuli. All patients were in the very beginning of their treatment because of the depressive episode. Methods 128-Channel EEG was recorded in 12 patients (6 female) with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 12 patients (5 female) with bipolar disorder (BD), while they performed categorization of images as humans or animals. Half of the photographs were neutral and half were showing angry/aggressive people or animals. A pattern (the cue) was presented 2 s prior to the picture; and its meaning was not explained. We analyzed the slow wave (CNV) recorded during the picture anticipation. Results Due to cue-picture association established in our contingency-unaware patients, there were alterations in CNV during angry vs neutral face anticipation – the emotional modulation (EM). MDD patients showed EM in the anterior area, while in BD patients EM had central distribution. Conclusions EM topography during the anticipation may reflect the neurophysiological differences of patients in depressive episode depending of their disorder (MDD vs BD). Key message Unconscious emotional modulation of CNV may be helpful in differentiating certain kinds of psychopathology.