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Neuroimaging insights into recent suicide attempters utilizing the raven task
Morteza Fattahi1, Milad Esmaeil-Zadeh1, Hamid Soltanian-Zadeh1
1Control and Intelligent Processing Center of Excellence (CIPCE), School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College.
Plos One
|August 4, 2025
Summary
Individuals who recently attempted suicide show reduced brain activity in key cognitive control areas. This neural deficit may impair decision-making and problem-solving, increasing suicide risk.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Understanding neural mechanisms in recent suicide attempters is crucial for improved diagnosis and treatment.
- Suicide attempts are a critical public health concern requiring deeper investigation into underlying brain function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine neural activity patterns in individuals with recent suicide attempts using fMRI.
- To compare brain activation between individuals with recent suicide attempts and Major Depressive Disorder (SA+MDD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) only, and healthy controls (HC).
Main Methods:
- Sixty participants were divided into SA+MDD, MDD, and HC groups.
- Participants completed the Raven's Progressive Matrices task.
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and General Linear Model (GLM) analyses, including ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc tests, were used to assess brain activity.
Main Results:
- The SA+MDD group showed significantly reduced activation in the left medial superior frontal cortex (SFC), left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and left precentral gyrus compared to MDD and HC groups.
- Positive correlations were found between Scale for Suicidal Ideation scores and medial SFC/ACC activity, while a negative correlation was observed with precentral gyrus activity.
- While task accuracy was similar across groups, the SA+MDD group had significantly shorter response times.
Conclusions:
- Recent suicide attempters exhibit diminished activation in left-hemispheric regions vital for cognitive control and problem-solving (medial SFC, ACC, precentral gyrus).
- These neural deficits may underlie impaired decision-making and problem-solving abilities, potentially exacerbating suicide risk, especially when linked with hopelessness.
