Department of Psychiatry, Kyungpook National University Chilgok Hospital, South Korea; Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, South Korea.
Department of Medical & Biological Engineering, Kyungpook National University, South Korea.
J Psychiatr Res. 2024 Dec;180:169-176. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.10.005. Epub 2024 Oct 15.
Thought-action fusion (TAF) is the metacognitive belief that the power of thoughts can have real-life consequences, often inducing unpleasant inner experiences and recruiting coping strategies such as rumination. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of TAF and their associations with rumination in depression. A total of 37 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 37 healthy controls (HCs) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging with a TAF induction task and psychological assessments. In the TAF induction task, participants were asked to read the name of a close person (CP) or neutral person (NP) in association with negative (Neg) TAF and neutral (Neu) control statements. In this study, our TAF induction task activated brain regions, including the salient and default-mode networks, in the MDD and HC groups. However, along with higher likelihood TAF and rumination, behavioral data showed less negative feelings and longer reaction times under the NegCP condition in the MDD group compared with the HC group. Furthermore, in the MDD group, significantly higher activation in the bilateral caudate nuclei, left inferior frontal gyrus/anterior insula, putamen, and inferior parietal lobule under the NegCP condition was positively correlated with TAF and reflection. These findings suggest that during the TAF task, patients with MDD may activate different brain areas associated with the maintenance of high stimulus saliency and habit formation, which are important neural correlates linking TAF and rumination in depression.
思维-行动融合（TAF）是一种元认知信念，即认为思维的力量会对现实生活产生影响，通常会引起不愉快的内在体验，并引发应对策略，如沉思。因此，本研究旨在探讨 TAF 的神经相关性及其与抑郁症中沉思的关系。共有 37 名患有重度抑郁症（MDD）的患者和 37 名健康对照（HC）接受了 TAF 诱导任务和心理评估的功能磁共振成像。在 TAF 诱导任务中，参与者被要求阅读亲近的人（CP）或中性的人（NP）的名字，并与消极的 TAF 和中性的控制陈述相关联。在本研究中，我们的 TAF 诱导任务激活了 MDD 和 HC 组的大脑区域，包括突显和默认模式网络。然而，与较高的 TAF 和沉思可能性相关的是，在 MDD 组中，与 HC 组相比，在 NegCP 条件下，行为数据显示出较少的负面情绪和更长的反应时间。此外，在 MDD 组中，在 NegCP 条件下，双侧尾状核、左侧额下回/前岛叶、壳核和下顶叶的激活与 TAF 和反射呈正相关。这些发现表明，在 TAF 任务中，MDD 患者可能会激活与维持高刺激显著性和习惯形成相关的不同大脑区域，这些区域是将 TAF 与抑郁症中的沉思联系起来的重要神经相关性。
