[Electric reactive potentials to events with a positive and negative coloring in patients with protracted depression]

The authors measured electrical reactive potentials in the posterior associative and frontal areas, originating in response to winning or losing of the serve in tennis game shown on the video which served as a model of positive and negative emotional reactions. The studied potentials consisted of four waves: P300, N600, P800 and N1000. Healthy subjects experiencing positive emotions showed a more marked negative nature of the potentials in the left posterior associative zone while negative emotions were associated with the presence of predominantly negative potentials in the right frontal area. Patients with protracted depression presented a negative shift of potentials in both right posterior associative zone and left frontal area. The results obtained indicate that protracted depression is attended by impaired topography of the cortical processes associated with positive and negative emotions.