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Bidirectional associations between self-referential processing and depressive symptoms in early adolescents: A
1Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
|December 18, 2025
Summary
Adolescent depression risk is linked to how the brain processes self-referential information. Negative self-referential processing predicts future depressive symptoms, while depression influences self-referential processing neural activity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Adolescence involves significant self-development and increased depression risk.
- Maladaptive self-referential processing is a known risk factor for depression.
- Longitudinal data on the bidirectional relationship between self-referential processing and depression are limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the longitudinal, bidirectional associations between neural and behavioral indices of self-referential processing and depressive symptoms in early adolescence.
- To examine the predictive relationship between neural activity during self-referential processing and subsequent depressive symptoms.
- To explore how depressive symptoms predict changes in self-referential processing over time.
Main Methods:
- 115 early adolescents (mean age 11.00 years) completed an EEG-based Self-Referent Encoding Task (SRET) and depressive symptom measures at baseline and one-year follow-up.
- Electroencephalography (EEG) measured neural activity, specifically the anterior late positive potential (LPP), during negative self-referential processing.
- Behavioral data, including drift rate, were analyzed alongside self-reported depressive symptoms.
Main Results:
- A larger anterior late positive potential (LPP) during negative self-referential processing at baseline predicted increased depressive symptoms one year later.
- Baseline depressive symptoms predicted a higher drift rate during negative self-referential processing at follow-up.
- Evidence suggests bidirectional relationships between neural/behavioral self-referential processing and depressive symptoms.
Conclusions:
- This study provides novel longitudinal evidence for bidirectional relationships between self-referential processing and depressive symptoms in early adolescence.
- Neural (LPP) and behavioral (drift rate) measures of self-referential processing show distinct directional associations with depressive symptoms.
- Findings highlight the importance of considering both neural and behavioral aspects of self-referential processing in understanding adolescent depression.
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