Childhood trauma exposure, working memory updating, and exercise experience in adolescents with major depressive...

Increasing evidence indicates that childhood trauma (CT) experiences and impaired working memory updating (WMU) are critical factors in the development and maintenance of depression. Conversely, exercise activities serve as protective mechanisms against depression. However, it remains unclear about 1) whether adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit impairments in updating non-social and social information, and 2) the interplay among CT, WMU, exercise experience (EE) and depression in adolescents.

To address these questions, this study recruited 72 first-episode, treatment-naïve adolescents with MDD and 50 healthy controls (HC), matched for age, gender and education. The WMU abilities were assessed using a classic n-back task including both non-social digits and social emotional faces. The CT experience, EE and depressive symptoms were evaluated by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Subjective Exercise Experience Scale (SEES) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), respectively. Additionally, the mediating roles of WMU and EE in the association between CT and depression were analyzed.

Our results showed that compared to HC group, MDD patients exhibited decreased accuracy and increased reaction time to both non-social digits and social emotional faces in the n-back task. Furthermore, the behavioral accuracy in the WMU, as well as fatigue and positive-wellbeing experiences during exercises, significantly mediated the association between CT and depression across the entire sample.

Findings from this study revealed that adolescents with MDD exhibit generalized impairments in WMU, and the pathway from CT to depression is partially mediated by both WMU and EE. These findings highlight WMU training and EE improvement as clinical intervention targets for CT-related depression.