Characteristics of processing for trait adjectives in depressive persons: an event-related potential study

Event-related potentials (ERP) following emotive words were investigated in 22 healthy subjects with high (HD) or low (LD) depressive scores. The ERP was recorded following a visual presentation of emotive adjectives. The adjectives presented included words that subjects felt to be fit or unfit to their own character or traits, and that they perceived as positive or negative. The latency of P300 (P1) for negative words was significantly longer than that for positive words at Pz in HD subjects. The N400 (N1) in HD subjects showed a longer latency than that in LD subjects (p<0.01) at Cz and Pz. However, there was no difference in amplitude between the fit and unfit category, nor in the positive or negative category of words between the LD and HD groups. The present study suggests that an excessive level of cognitive processing in response to passive stimulation by non-specific emotive words occurs in normal subjects with a depressive condition.