Intact face detection in young patients with major depressive disorder revealed by the face-specific N170 component.

It is unclear whether the face perceptual processing, especially the perceptual computation in early stages of processing faces, impaired in young patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). In this study, the face perception was investigated by analyzing the early ERP components in response to upright and inverted faces versus objects. Across all conditions, both the P1 and the N170 components were similar in MDD patients versus in the controls, regardless of latencies or amplitudes. Faces elicited larger N170 than objects (N170 face effect) and inverted faces elicited higher and delayed N170 (N170 inversion effect); however, none of these effects were modulated by depression. These findings suggest that there is intact perceptual mechanism of processing faces in young MDD patients, relying primarily on global/configural information versus non-face objects.