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Altered neural responses to upward social comparison in subthreshold depression: An ERP study
Qinqin Zheng1, Chenxi Li1, Jian Liang1
1College of Educational Science, Chongqing Normal University, China; Key Laboratory of Applied Psychology, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China; Chongqing Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Sciences for Intelligent Rehabilitation and Education of Children with Special Needs, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China.
Background:
Upward social comparison tends to activate negative self-schemas and is an important mechanism that intensifies cognitive and emotional symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). However, the neural responses to upward social comparison in Subthreshold Depression (SD), a state characterized by depressive symptoms that fall short of a full MDD diagnosis, are still unknown.
Methods:
Twenty-nine participants with SD and twenty-nine healthy controls (HC) participated in the lottery task adapted from a classic gambling paradigm with event-related potential (ERP) recording. The unpleasant score, reaction time, feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 were recorded.
Results:
Behavioral analyses revealed no significant main effect of group between the HC and SD participants. In the ERP results, a significant group × condition interaction was observed for both the FRN and P300 components. Simple effects analyses indicated that, compared to the HC group, the SD group exhibited no significant change in FRN amplitude across different upward social comparison conditions. However, the SD group showed a significantly enhanced P300 amplitude for medium upward-comparison condition large upward-comparison condition.
Conclusions:
Our findings from ERP analyses suggested that, compared with HC individuals, individuals with SD exhibited reduced neural sensitivity to upward social comparison difference evaluation in the early stage. In contrast, the SD group demonstrated enhanced neural activity during the late stage of upward social comparison. This aberrant neural activity pattern provides empirical evidence for understanding the neurophysiological causes of subthreshold depression.
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