Fronto-Limbic Alterations in Negatively Biased Attention in Young Adults with Subthreshold Depression

Attentional bias toward negative stimuli has been observed in major depression disorders (MDDs). Imaging studies suggest the engagement of fronto-limbic regions like amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and lateral prefrontal cortex, is related to negatively biased attention. However, neural correlates of attentional bias for negative stimuli in individuals with subthreshold depression (SubD), that is individuals who have clinically relevant depressive symptoms but do not fulfill the criteria for MDD, remain unclear. Here, we used functional neuroimaging and the dot-probe task to elucidate the neural substrates of negatively biased attention among individuals with SubD. Behavioral results found that individuals with SubD allocated more attention toward negative stimuli relative to neutral stimuli, which were not observed among non-depressed controls (NCs). Imaging results found greater amygdala and rostral ACC activity in attentional bias toward negative stimuli among participants with SubD compared to NCs; Additionally, participants with SubD showed reduced engagement of bilateral inferior frontal gyrus compared with NCs in the attentional processing of negative stimuli. Together, these results suggest that alteration of fronto-limbic systems relative to controls, known to be related to negative detection and attentional control, is associated with negatively biased attention in individuals with SubD.