Associations between physical activity, sedentary time, and neurocognitive function during adolescence: Evidence from accelerometry and the flanker P300.

Physical activity and sedentary behavior are two lifestyle factors related to overall health during adolescence. Public health efforts emphasize the importance of increasing physical activity to improve physical and mental health outcomes, including neurocognitive functioning. However, the unique effects of sedentary behavior on neurocognitive functioning remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate associations between daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sedentary time, and neurocognitive functioning during adolescence. Fifty-seven participants (37% female) between the ages of 13 and 17 years wore an accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist for approximately 1 week to quantify daily MVPA and sedentary time prior to completing a flanker task to elicit P300 amplitude at a laboratory visit. Results indicated that daily MVPA and sedentary time exhibited unique, significant associations with P300 amplitude in opposing directions: increased daily MVPA was correlated with larger P300 amplitudes, while increased daily sedentary time was linked to reduced P300 amplitudes. Notably, these associations remained significant even after adjusting for age, sex, and BMI-for-age percentile. These findings underscore the independent influence of daily MVPA and sedentary time on neurocognitive functioning during adolescence. Future research should explore whether modifying MVPA levels can improve neurocognitive outcomes-including the P300-during adolescence, and determine whether reducing sedentary time results in similar or differential effects.

Examining Blunted Initial Response to Reward and Recent Suicidal Ideation in Children and Adolescents Using Event-Related Potentials: Failure to Conceptually Replicate Across Two Independent Samples.

A recent study by Tsypes and colleagues (2019) found that children with recent suicidal ideation had blunted neural reward processing, as measured by the reward positivity (RewP), compared to matched controls, and that this difference was driven by reduced neural responses to monetary loss, rather than to reward. Here, we aimed to conceptually replicate and extend these findings in two samples (n = 264, 27 with suicidal ideation; and n = 314, 49 with suicidal ideation at baseline) of children and adolescents (11 to 15 years and 8 to 15 years, respectively). Results from both samples showed no evidence that children and adolescents with suicidal ideation have abnormal reward or loss processing, nor that reward processing predicts suicidal ideation two years later. The results highlight the need for greater statistical power, as well as continued research examining the neural underpinnings of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Deficits in doors P300 amplitude during adolescence associated with preschool-onset depression.

The psychophysiological underpinnings of preschool-onset depression (PO-MDD) remain underexplored. Moreover, there is currently a limited understanding of the potential impact that PO-MDD might have on neurobiological functions later in development such as general cognitive domains and reward processing. Thus, the current study sought to examine potential neurophysiological differences, measured via electroencephalography (EEG), in adolescents with and without a history of PO-MDD. Participants and their caregivers (N = 138) from a large longitudinal study completed semi-structured clinical interviews at a baseline visit (ages 3-7) to determine PO-MDD status. At a follow-up visit approximately 11 years later, adolescents (ages 13-19) completed the doors gambling task while EEG was recorded to measure event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by both the doors and feedback stimuli, to index cognitive and reward processing functions (i.e., doors-P300, gain/loss feedback-P300, and RewP). Adolescents with a history of PO-MDD exhibited significantly smaller doors-P300 compared with adolescents with no history of PO-MDD, whereas there were no group differences in gain/loss feedback-P300 or RewP. Additionally, reduced doors-P300 was independently associated with lower baseline income-to-needs ratio, older age, and female gender. The current study suggests that reduced doors-P300 amplitude during adolescence might reflect impaired neurophysiological development related to PO-MDD. Thus, the P300 derived from the doors stimuli might be a valuable neural measure to further our understanding of potential neurophysiological differences associated with early-onset childhood depression.

Influences of age and pubertal development on P300 amplitude trajectory across two years in female adolescents.

The P300 event-related potential (ERP) has been extensively studied across the human lifespan. However, many studies examining age-related effects are cross-sectional, and few have considered the unique role that pubertal development may have on P300 developmental trajectories. The current study examined whether age, pubertal maturation or their interaction predicted changes in P300 amplitude over two years among 129 females between the ages of 8 and 15 years at baseline. Participants completed a flanker task while EEG was recorded at a baseline and two-year follow-up visit. Both baseline age and increased pubertal development were associated with smaller P300 amplitude at follow-up. However, the influence of age was qualified by an interaction between age and pubertal maturation: among younger girls only, increased pubertal development predicted decreases in P300, whereas decreased pubertal development predicted increases in P300. These data indicate that pubertal timing impacts neurodevelopmental changes in P300 amplitude - such that high versus low pubertal development among 8- to 10-year-old girls predicted differential trajectories of neural activity. In light of links between reduced P300 and mental health disorders, such as depression, future studies might examine whether neurodevelopmental changes influenced by early-onset pubertal development could account for increases in these mental health problems.

Neural deficits in anticipatory and consummatory reward processing are uniquely associated with current depressive symptoms during adolescence.

Deficits within the consummatory phase of reward processing are associated with increased depression symptoms and risk; however, few studies have also examined other aspects of reward processing in relation to depression. In the current study, a community sample of 121 adolescents (Mage  = 13.1, Min = 11.14; Max = 15.12; 54% male) completed self-report questionnaires to assess depressive symptoms and the monetary incentive delay (MID) task while EEG was recorded. Results indicated that a reduced cue-P300 as well as a reduced reward positivity (RewP) and feedback negativity (FN) to gain and loss feedback, respectively, were associated with increased depressive symptoms; on the other hand, SPN and feedback P300 were unrelated to depressive symptoms. An exploratory multiple regression analysis revealed that a reduced money cue-P300, a reduced RewP, and a reduced (i.e., less negative) FN, all explained unique variance in depressive symptoms. The current study demonstrates that reduced cue-P300, RewP, and FN amplitudes may reflect distinct deficits in reward processing among adolescents with increased depressive symptoms. Notably, this study is one of the first to leverage the MID task in adolescents in relation to depressive symptoms, allowing for a more in-depth view of the individual differences in reward processing among adolescents with increased depressive symptomatology.

Error-related brain activity: A time-domain and time-frequency investigation in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Increased error-related negativity (ERN), a measure of error monitoring, has been suggested as a biomarker of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Additional insight into error monitoring is possible using time-frequency decomposition of electroencephalographic (EEG) data, as it allows disentangling the brain's parallel processing of information. Greater error-related theta is thought to reflect an error detection signal, while delta activity may reflect more elaborative post-detection processes (i.e., strategic adjustments). Recent investigations show that decreased error-related alpha may index attentional engagement following errors; additionally, increases and decreases in error-related beta could reflect motor inhibition and motor preparation, respectively. However, time-frequency dynamics of error monitoring in OCD are largely unknown. The present study examined time-frequency theta, delta, alpha and beta power in early adolescents with OCD using a data-driven, cluster-based approach. The aim was to explore electrocortical measures of error monitoring in early adolescents with (n = 27, 15 females) and without OCD (n = 27, 14 females) during an arrowhead version of the flanker task while EEG activity was recorded. Results indicated that the OCD group was characterized by increased ERN and error-related theta, as well as reduced error-related beta power decrease (i.e., greater power) compared to participants without OCD. Greater error-related beta explained variance in OCD over and above the ERN and error-related theta. By examining separate time-frequency measures, the present study provides novel insights into the dynamics of error monitoring, suggesting that pediatric OCD may be characterized by enhanced error monitoring (i.e., greater theta power) and post-error inhibition (i.e., reduced beta power decrease).

The P300 and late positive potential in pregnancy prospectively predict increases in depressive and anxious symptoms in the early postpartum period.

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.

Reduced P300 amplitude is consistently associated with trait anhedonia across repeated assessments.

Understanding how event-related potentials (ERPs) change following repeated assessments is critical to advance our understanding of neural mechanisms implicated in psychopathology. Specifically, it is unclear if associations between ERPs and individual differences can be reproduced when repeatedly measured within the same participants, or if clinical characteristics impact ERP trajectories over repeated assessments. The present study assessed P300 amplitude and latency from a flanker task at four time points over one month (M = 7.24 days between assessments [SD = 1.02]) in 79 female undergraduates to examine how P300 amplitude/latency changes across repeated assessments, the presence of associations between within- and between-subjects measures of current depressive symptoms and the P300, and if between-subjects depressive symptoms moderated change in P300 over repeated assessment. Results using multilevel modeling indicated a significant reduction in P300 amplitude and latency across assessments. Individuals with increased trait anhedonia (i.e., between-subjects) exhibited reduced P300 amplitudes across assessments; there were no associations of within-subjects fluctuations in anhedonia symptoms and P300 amplitude across assessments. There was also no interaction between number of assessments and between-subjects anhedonia in relation to P300 amplitude. Unlike anhedonia, between-subjects dysphoria was unrelated to P300. These results demonstrate a relatively specific and consistent association between an attenuated P300 amplitude and trait anhedonia across repeated assessments - data that may further suggest that flanker P300 amplitude reflects hedonic and motivational processes.

Reduced electrocortical responses to pleasant pictures in depression: A brief report on time-domain and time-frequency delta analyses.

BACKGROUND: The late positive potential (LPP) to pleasant content is an electrocortical indicator of blunted emotional reactivity in depression. A reduced time-frequency delta power has never been investigated in clinical samples. The present study examined time-frequency delta in depression and at investigated whether the combination of time-domain and time-frequency data would explain additional variance in the depression status. METHODS: The study was a secondary analysis of data collected during a passive viewing task of pleasant and neutral pictures in a community-based sample of 75 participants with a current depressive disorder and 42 controls. A time-frequency analysis on event-related changes within delta frequency band was conducted. RESULTS: Cluster-based statistics revealed a centro-parietal increase in delta power to pleasant relative to neutral pictures in the control group but not within the depression group. Moreover, a fronto-centro-parietal reduction in delta power to pleasant pictures emerged in depression relative to controls. Both a smaller LPP and delta power to pleasant pictures were related to depression status. The combination of LPP and delta power explained a greater amount of variance compared to the model where LPP was entered as the only predictor of depression status. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that delta power might be a promising electrocortical correlate of the hypoactivation of the approach-related motivational system in depression. Additionally, a blunted delta and LPP might reflect unique processes related to depression. A combination of these measures can be leveraged together to enhance clinical utility and to shed light on the underlying mechanisms associated with depression.

Depression reduces neural correlates of reward salience with increasing effort over the course of the progressive ratio task.

BACKGROUND: Depressive disorders have been associated with altered effort-cost decision making (ECDM) in behavioral investigations, such as a decreased willingness to expend effort for reward attainment. However, little is known about neural mechanisms implicated in altered ECDM. METHODS: The study investigates neural correlates of reward attainment during a progressive ratio task in participants with a current depressive disorder (n = 65) and never-depressed healthy individuals (n = 44). On each trial, participants completed an increasing number of button presses to attain a fixed monetary reward, indicated by an auditory reward signal. Participants could decide to quit the task anytime (breakpoint). EEG was recorded during the task and P300 amplitudes were examined in response to the auditory signal of reward attainment. RESULTS: There was no difference in breakpoint, as both groups completed comparable numbers of button presses. In contrast, results from mixed-effects models of trial-level ERP responses indicated depression-related effects on P300 amplitudes over the course of the task. Generally, the reward-locked P300 increased with ascending effort expenditure; however, compared to healthy participants, individuals with current depression were characterized by an attenuated trajectory of the reward-locked P300, pointing towards decreased reactivity to reward attainment with increasing effort. LIMITATIONS: Sample size and reward magnitude were possibly not large enough to detect differences in breakpoint. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study demonstrate that the investigation of reward-related P300 trajectory may represent an informative novel addition to the progressive ratio task, which could help shed light on depression-related alterations in motivation and ECDM.

Blunted Flanker P300 Demonstrates Specificity to Depressive Symptoms in Females during Adolescence.

Recent research suggests that depressive disorders in adults are characterized by reductions in flanker P300 amplitude, and that a reduced flanker P300 may also predict worst depressive trajectories over time. The current study extended this work to adolescence-and to evaluate the specificity of the relationship between flanker P300 to depressive symptoms versus anxiety symptoms, and whether the association between flanker P300 and depressive symptoms was moderated by biological sex. To this end, P300 amplitude, depression, anxiety, and sex were assessed in a large sample of 619 adolescents aged 11 to 14. Participants completed a speeded response flanker task while EEG was recorded, as well as self-reported measures of current depression and anxiety symptoms. Reduced P300 amplitude was related to both heightened depression and anxiety symptoms in zero-order correlations. Regression-based analyses suggest that reduced P300 was uniquely related to depressive symptoms. Furthermore, this negative association between P300 and depression was apparent in female adolescents, but not male adolescents. In sum, the current study suggests that flanker P300 amplitude may potentially serve as a neural marker specific to depression in females during adolescence.

Doors P300 moderates the relationship between reward positivity and current depression status in adults.

BACKGROUND: Previous research has found deficits in both the reward positivity (RewP) and P300 components of the event-related potential (ERP) in relation to depression. The current study examined whether the P300, elicited from imperative stimuli in a gambling task, relates to depression - and can be utilized in tandem with the RewP to better account for individual differences in depression. METHODS: In the current study, 80 adults with current depression (Mage = 39.65, 79% female) and 43 healthy controls (Mage = 37.02, 81% female) completed clinical interviews, self-report questionnaires, and the doors gambling task while EEG was recorded. RESULTS: Results indicated a reduced P300 to doors stimuli (i.e., doors P300) in depression, especially among depressed individuals reporting heightened anhedonia. Gain and loss feedback P300s did not differ between groups. Moreover, the doors P300 moderated the association between RewP and depression status: individuals with relatively intact reward processing (i.e., larger RewP) were more likely to be currently depressed if they exhibited a reduced P300. LIMITATIONS: The majority of the sample identified as Caucasian which reduces generalizability of current results. Additionally, the current study is cross sectional design which limits insight into how these ERPs coincide with changes in the disorder. CONCLUSIONS: The current study demonstrates that a novel P300 component to the doors stimulus appears to be blunted in currently depressed individuals, and that using the doors P300 in combination with the RewP accounts for significantly more variance in depression.

The impact of a single session of aerobic exercise on positive emotional reactivity in depression: Insight into individual differences from the late positive potential.

Depression has been characterized by a broad disengagement from the environment, as reflected by dampened positive and negative emotional reactivity. Research has shown that acute exercise may enhance positive emotional reactivity in healthy adults. It is unknown whether it can alter positive emotional reactivity in depression. In the present study, positive emotional reactivity was assessed using the late positive potential (LPP) event-related potential before and after 30 min of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise in 43 adults with current or a lifetime history of depression (Mage = 32.74 years; Min/Max = 18/59) and 18 never-depressed healthy adults (Mage = 37.94 years; Min/Max = 21/61). Acute exercise increased the LPP for healthy adults; the LPP did not change among those with current or a lifetime history of depression. A secondary aim was to identify moderators of change in positive emotional reactivity among subgroups of adults with current depression. Compared to adults with impaired mood reactivity, those with intact mood reactivity had a pre-to-post increase in the LPP. The current study provides preliminary support for the LPP as a neural indicator of exercise efficacy and highlights individual differences in response to acute exercise in depression.

A reduced P300 prospectively predicts increased depressive severity in adults with clinical depression.

Neurocognitive impairments commonly observed in depressive disorders are thought to be reflected in reduced P300 amplitudes. To date, depression-related P300 amplitude reduction has mostly been demonstrated cross-sectionally, while its clinical implication for the course of depression remains largely unclear. Moreover, the relationship between P300 and specific clinical characteristics of depression is uncertain. To shed light on the functional significance of the P300 in depression, we examined whether initial P300 amplitude prospectively predicted changes in depressive symptoms among a community sample of 58 adults (mean age = 38.86 years old, 81% female) with a current depressive disorder. This sample was assessed at two-time points, separated by approximately nine months (range = 6.6-15.9). At the initial visit, participants completed clinical interviews, self-report measures, and a flanker task, while EEG was recorded to derive P300 amplitude. At the follow-up visit, participants again completed the same clinical interviews and self-report measures. Results indicated that a reduced P300 amplitude at the initial visit was associated with higher total depressive symptoms at follow-up, even after controlling for initial depressive symptoms. These data indicate the potential clinical utility for the P300 as a neural marker of disease course among adults with a current depressive disorder. Future research may target P300 in interventions to determine whether depression-related outcomes can be improved.

Reduced neural response to reward and pleasant pictures independently relate to depression.

BACKGROUND: Multiple studies have found a reduced reward positivity (RewP) among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). Event-related potential studies have also reported blunted neural responses to pleasant pictures in MDD as reflected by the late positive potential (LPP). These deficits have been interpreted broadly in terms of anhedonia and decreased emotional engagement characteristic of depression. METHODS: In the current study, a community-based sample of 83 participants with current MDD and 45 healthy individuals performed both a guessing task and a picture viewing paradigm with neutral and pleasant pictures to assess the RewP and the LPP, respectively. RESULTS: We found that both RewP and LPP to pleasant pictures were reduced in the MDD group; moreover, RewP and LPP were both independent predictors of MDD status. Within the MDD group, a smaller RewP predicted impaired mood reactivity in younger but not older participants. Smaller LPP amplitudes were associated with increased anhedonia severity in the MDD group. CONCLUSIONS: These data replicate and merge separate previous lines of research, and suggest that a blunted RewP and LPP reflect independent neural deficits in MDD - which could be used in conjunction to improve the classification of depression.

Reduced flanker P300 prospectively predicts increases in depression in female adolescents.

Past research has found that P300 is smaller in depressed adults. Research examining P300 in relation to adolescent depression is more inconsistent; most studies fail to find P300 differences between currently depressed adolescents and controls. Previous studies have not examined the potential predictive utility of P300 in regard to adolescent depression. Therefore, the current study investigated the relationship between P300 amplitude and depression symptoms at baseline and two years later in a sample of 199 female adolescents. At baseline, participants completed measures of depression, followed by a speeded response task (flanker) while EEG was recorded. Two years later, participants completed the same depression measures. Reduced baseline P300 predicted increases in depression at two-year follow-up. Baseline P300 related particularly to two-year anhedonia and negative self-esteem symptoms. Our study suggest that reduced P300 amplitude can be utilized as a potential risk marker for adolescents at risk for developing increases in depressive symptoms.

Reduced P300 in depression: Evidence from a flanker task and impact on ERN, CRN, and Pe.

Individuals with current depression show reduced amplitude of the P300 component of the stimulus-locked event-related potential (ERP)-an effect most often examined in oddball tasks. Although imperative stimuli in response-monitoring paradigms (e.g., the flanker task), also elicit a P300, it is unclear whether a blunted P300 can be observed in depression in these tasks. Moreover, the P300 overlaps with the correct-response negativity (CRN) and error-related negativity (ERN), and is similar to the error positivity (Pe)-response-locked ERPs frequently examined in flanker tasks. The current study examined the stimulus-locked P300 and response-monitoring ERPs on error (i.e., ERN, Pe) and correct responses (i.e., CRN) during an arrowhead flanker task in 72 individuals with a current depressive disorder and 42 never depressed healthy individuals. Consistent with findings from oddball tasks, P300 amplitude was reduced among participants with depression. Further, results indicated increased ERN and CRN, and decreased Pe, in depression. However, when the blunted P300 was included in analyses, group differences in response-monitoring ERPs were no longer evident. Accordingly, P300 amplitudes were correlated negatively with the ERN/CRN and positively with Pe in both groups. A blunted P300 in depression can be observed in speeded response tasks, and can produce apparent increases in ERN and CRN due to ERP component overlap. Further, reduced Pe in participants with depression may reflect a reduced P300 to error commission. These data highlight the central role of reduced P300 in clinical depression, and demonstrate that this effect can be observed across both stimulus- and response-locked ERPs in speeded response tasks.