Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, P.O. Box 100131, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2024 Jun 17;19(1). doi: 10.1093/scan/nsae037.
Peer victimization contributes to the development of major depressive disorders (MDDs). While previous studies reported differentiated peripheral physiological responses in peer-victimized individuals with depression, little is known about potential alterations of cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to social stimuli in depressive patients with a history of peer victimization. Using a social condition paradigm, the present study examined whether peer victimization alters conditioned cortical responses to potentially threatening social stimuli in MDD patients and healthy controls. In the task, we studied ERPs to conditioned stimuli (CSs), i.e. still images of faces, that were coupled to unconditioned socially negative and neutral evaluative video statements. Peer victimization was related to more pronounced P100 amplitudes in reaction to negative and neutral CSs. Attenuated P200 amplitudes in peer-victimized individuals were found in response to negative CSs. Cortical responses to CSs were not influenced by a diagnosis of MDD. The results suggest altered responsiveness to interpersonal information in peer-victimized individuals. Facilitated early processing of social threat indicators may prevent peer-victimized individuals from adaptive responses to social cues, increasing their vulnerability for depression.
同伴侵害会导致重度抑郁症（MDD）的发展。虽然之前的研究报告了抑郁的同伴受侵害个体在周围生理反应方面存在差异，但对于有同伴侵害史的抑郁患者对社会刺激的皮质事件相关电位（ERP）的潜在变化知之甚少。本研究使用社会条件范式，研究了同伴侵害是否改变了 MDD 患者和健康对照组对潜在威胁性社会刺激的条件皮质反应。在任务中，我们研究了对条件刺激（CS）的 ERP，即面部的静态图像，这些 CS 与非条件的社会负面和中性评价视频陈述相关联。同伴侵害与对负性和中性 CS 的 P100 振幅增加有关。在对负性 CS 的反应中，发现受同伴侵害的个体的 P200 振幅减弱。皮质对 CS 的反应不受 MDD 诊断的影响。研究结果表明，同伴受侵害个体对人际信息的反应能力发生改变。促进对社会威胁指标的早期处理可能会阻止同伴受侵害个体对社会线索做出适应性反应，从而增加他们患抑郁症的脆弱性。
