ArticleJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2013
Disrupted amygdala reactivity in depressed 4- to 6-year-old children.
Article in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Abnormal neural activities in adults and youths with major depressive disorder during emotional processing: a meta-analysis.Brain imaging and behavior · 2021Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of Functional Neuroimaging of Major Depressive Disorder in Youth.JAMA psychiatry · 2015Pooled it
- Preadolescent Benefits of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Emotion Development for Preschool Depression: 4-Year Follow-Up.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2026Trial
- The Differential Contribution of the Components of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Emotion Development for Treatment of Preschool Depression.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2020Trial
- Preschool-Onset Major Depressive Disorder is Characterized by Electrocortical Deficits in Processing Pleasant Emotional Pictures.Journal of abnormal child psychology · 2020Trial
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of Parent-Child Psychotherapy Targeting Emotion Development for Early Childhood Depression.The American journal of psychiatry · 2018Trial
- Dimensions of Depressive Symptoms in Young Children: Factor Analysis of the Preschool Feelings Checklist-Scale.Assessment · 2025Article
- Social anxiety moderates the association between adolescent irritability and bully perpetration.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Sleep Disturbances and Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties Among Preschool-Aged Children.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Deficient prefrontal-amygdalar connectivity underlies inefficient face processing in adolescent major depressive disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- Prefrontal cortex and depression.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Review
- Stress-induced cortisol response is associated with right amygdala volume in early childhood.Neurobiology of stress · 2021Article
- Reliability and Validity of Preschool Feelings Checklist.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2021Article
- Material hardship, prefrontal cortex-amygdala structure, and internalizing symptoms in children.Developmental psychobiology · 2021Article
- Cortical thinning in preschoolers with maladaptive guilt.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2020Article
- Preschool Depression: a Diagnostic Reality.Current psychiatry reports · 2019Review
- Differential neural responding to affective stimuli in 6- to 8-year old children at high familial risk for depression: Associations with behavioral reward seeking.Journal of affective disorders · 2019Article
- Promising Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Depression.Psychiatry investigation · 2019Article
- Deficits in emotion recognition are associated with depressive symptoms in youth with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder.Depression and anxiety · 2018Article
- Continuity and stability of preschool depression from childhood through adolescence and following the onset of puberty.Comprehensive psychiatry · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveDisrupted amygdala activity in depressed adolescents and adults while viewing facial expressions of emotion has been reported. However, few data are available to inform the developmental nature of this phenomenon, an issue that studies of the earliest known forms of depression might elucidate. The current study addressed this question by examining functional brain activity and its relationships to emotion regulation in depressed 4- to 6-year-old children and their healthy peers.
methodA total of 54 medication-naive 4- to 6-year-olds (23 depressed and 31 healthy) participated in a case-control study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Imaging data were used to compare functional brain activity in children with and without depression during emotion face processing.
resultsA right-lateralized pattern of elevated amygdala, thalamus, inferior frontal gyrus, and angular gyrus activity during face processing was found in depressed 4- to 6-year-olds. In addition, relationships between increased amygdala activity during face processing and disruptions in parent-reported emotion regulation and negative affect were found. No between-group differences specific to emotion face type were identified.
conclusionTo our knowledge, this is the earliest evidence of alterations in functional brain activity in depression using fMRI. Results suggest that, similar to findings in older depressed groups, depression at this age is associated with disrupted amygdala functioning during face processing. The findings also raise the intriguing possibility that disrupted amygdala function is a depression-related biomarker that spans development. Additional studies will be needed to clarify whether the current findings are a precursor to or a consequence of very early childhood depression.
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