The Specificity of Individuals with Depressive Tendencies in Processing Verbal Emotional Information: Evidence from ERP

To explore the specificity of processing verbal emotional information by individuals with depressive tendencies, individuals with depressive tendencies and healthy individuals were asked to make valence judgments on words, and the changes in brain potential induced by words were recorded. The behavioral results show that compared with healthy individuals, individuals with depressive tendencies had a lower accuracy rate in judging the valence of words and showed a longer time to judge neutral words. The electroencephalogram (EEG) results revealed that when processing negative words, individuals with depressive tendencies induced smaller N400 amplitudes in the frontal region, front–central region, and central region than healthy individuals, and also induced a larger LPP with weakened energy in the alpha band. In the front–central region, central region and central–parietal region, individuals with depressive tendencies showed a greater induction of LPP amplitude when processing neutral words than healthy individuals. The above results suggest that individuals with depressive tendencies have specificity in processing verbal emotional information and slower and less accurate judgment of lexical valence, accompanied by specific changes in brain potential.