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Updated: May 18, 2026
Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis
Published on: June 20, 2012
Neural responses to incongruency in a blocked-trial Stroop fMRI task in major depressive disorder
Toshiaki Kikuchi1, Jeffrey M Miller, Noam Schneck
1Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. t-kick@nifty.com
Background:
Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) perform poorly on the Stroop task, which is a measure of the executive control of attention, with impaired interference resolution. The neural correlates of this deficit are not well described. To examine how this deficit relates to pathophysiological abnormalities in MDD, we conducted an fMRI Stroop study comparing MDD subjects to controls.
Methods:
Forty-two unmedicated patients with current MDD and 17 control subjects underwent fMRI scanning with a color-word Stroop task. Subjects assessed font color during alternating color identification (e.g., 'XXXX' in blue) and incongruent color/word blocks (e.g., the word 'red' in blue). We examined neural activation that was greater in incongruent than color identification blocks (Z>2.3 and corrected p<0.05), controlling for trial-by-trial reaction time.
Results:
Compared to controls, MDD subjects exhibited lower activation during incongruent blocks across multiple brain regions, including middle frontal gyrus, paracingulate and posterior cingulate, precuneus, occipital regions, and brain stem. No brain regions were identified in which MDD subjects were more active than controls during incongruent blocks.
Limitations:
Not all MDD subjects were antidepressant-naïve.
Conclusions:
Brain regions related to executive function, visual processing, and semantic processing are less active during processing of incongruent stimuli in MDD subjects as compared to controls. Deficits of attention in MDD may be the product of a failure to maintain activity across a distributed network in a sustained manner, as is required over the sequential trials in this block design. Further studies may clarify whether the abnormalities represent a trait or state deficit.
Insights
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is linked to reduced brain activity in key executive function areas during attention tasks. This study used fMRI to show decreased neural activation in patients with MDD compared to controls.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with impaired executive control of attention, specifically in resolving interference on tasks like the Stroop.
- The underlying neural mechanisms of this attentional deficit in MDD remain incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural correlates of impaired Stroop task performance in individuals with MDD.
- To compare brain activation patterns during an fMRI Stroop task between MDD patients and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed with 42 unmedicated MDD patients and 17 controls.
- Participants completed a color-word Stroop task involving color identification and incongruent color/word blocks.
- Analysis focused on neural activation differences between incongruent and color identification blocks, controlling for reaction time.
Main Results:
- MDD subjects showed significantly lower activation in brain regions including the middle frontal gyrus, cingulate cortex, precuneus, occipital regions, and brain stem during incongruent blocks compared to controls.
- No brain regions exhibited greater activation in MDD subjects than controls during the processing of incongruent stimuli.
Conclusions:
- Reduced activation in brain regions associated with executive function, visual, and semantic processing characterizes MDD during demanding attentional tasks.
- Attentional deficits in MDD may stem from a failure to sustain network activity across task trials.
- Further research is needed to determine if these observed abnormalities are a trait or state characteristic of MDD.
