ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2024
Relationship of prefrontal cortex activity with anhedonia and cognitive function in major depressive disorder: an fNIRS study.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Meta-analysis of neural correlates of working memory, reward, and emotion processing in major depressive disorder using ALE.Psychological medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Utility of Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2026Review
- Machine Learning Based Identification of Depressive Symptoms Among Students in a Chinese University Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.Alpha psychiatry · 2025Article
- Frontocortical activity and emotional experience in the context of daily life events.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
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9 authors.
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Abstract
Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with deficits in cognitive function, thought to be related to underlying decreased hedonic experiences. Further research is needed to fully elucidate the role of functional brain activity in this relationship. In this study, we investigated the neurofunctional correlate of the interplay between cognitive function and hedonic experiences in medication-free MDD using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Methods: We examine differences of brain activation corresponding to the verbal fluency test (VFT) between MDD patients and healthy controls (HCs). Fifty-six MDD patients and 35 HCs underwent fMRI scanning while performing the VFT. In exploratory analyses, cognitive performance, as assessed by the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), four dimensions of hedonic processing (desire, motivation, effort, and consummatory pleasure) measured by the Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale (DARS), and relative changes in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration during the VFT were compared across groups. Results: Patients with MDD demonstrated impairments in sustained attention and working memory, accompanied by lower total and subscale scores on the DARS. Compared to healthy controls, MDD patients exhibited reduced activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during the VFT task (t = 2.32 to 4.77, Conclusions: These findings indicate that changes in prefrontal lobe oxygenated hemoglobin levels, a region implicated in hedonic motivation and cognitive function, may serve as potential biomarkers for interventions targeting individuals with MDD. Our results corroborate the clinical consensus that the prefrontal cortex is a primary target for non-invasive neuromodulatory treatments for depression.
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