Differences in neural and cognitive response to emotional faces in middle-aged dizygotic twins at familial risk of depression. Issue 13 (11th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Miskowiak, K. W.; Svendsen, A. M. B.; Harmer, C. J.; Elliott, R.; Macoveanu, J.; Siebner, H. R.; Kessing, L. V.; Vinberg, M.
• Is Part Of: Psychological medicine. Volume 47:Issue 13(2017)
• Page Start: 2345
• Page End: 2357
• Publication Date: 2017-04-11
• Subjects: Depression, -- emotional faces, -- emotional processing, -- endophenotype, -- fMRI, -- high-risk, -- resilience, -- twins; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Medicine and psychology -- Periodicals; Clinical psychology -- Periodicals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1017/S0033291717000861
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0033-2917

Abstract

Abstract : Background: Negative bias and aberrant neural processing of emotional faces are trait-marks of depression but findings in healthy high-risk groups are conflicting. Methods: Healthy middle-aged dizygotic twins ( N = 42) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): 22 twins had a co-twin history of depression (high-risk) and 20 were without co-twin history of depression (low-risk). During fMRI, participants viewed fearful and happy faces while performing a gender discrimination task. After the scan, they were given a faces dot-probe task, a facial expression recognition task and questionnaires assessing mood, personality traits and coping. Results: Unexpectedly, high-risk twins showed reduced fear vigilance and lower recognition of fear and happiness relative to low-risk twins. During face processing in the scanner, high-risk twins displayed distinct negative functional coupling between the amygdala and ventral prefrontal cortex and pregenual anterior cingulate. This was accompanied by greater fear-specific fronto-temporal response and reduced fronto-occipital response to all emotional faces relative to baseline. The risk groups showed no differences in mood, subjective state or coping. Conclusions: Less susceptibility to fearful faces and negative cortico-limbic coupling during emotional face processing may reflect neurocognitive compensatory mechanisms in middle-aged dizygotic twins who remain healthy despite their familial risk of depression.