Psychophysiology, 2024, 61(2), e14444.
Feedback negativity and feedback-related P3 in individuals at risk for depression: Comparing surface potentials and current source densities
Yifan Gao1, Lidia Y.X. Panier1, Marc J. Gameroff1,2, Randy P. Auerbach2, Jonathan E. Posner2, Myrna M. Weissman1,2, Jürgen Kayser1,2
1Division of Translational Epidemiology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA; 2Department of Psychiatry, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Received 14 November 2022; revised 31 August 2023; accepted 31 August 2023; published online 22 Sep 2023.
Abstract
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-channel EEGs recorded from 29 high and 32 low risk individuals (15-58 years, 30 male). Linked-mastoids 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 P3 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 P3 was greater for high than low risk 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.
Key Words: depression risk; EEG reference; current source density (CSD); principal components analysis (PCA); reward processing; feedback negativity (FN)