Key result
Within-individual changes in depressed-mood scores were negatively correlated with left prefrontal cortex activation during a verbal working memory task (ρ = -0.56, p < 0.05).
Why the study?
Does prefrontal cortex activity during working memory tasks correlate with within-individual fluctuations in depressed mood?
Observational
Does prefrontal cortex activity during working memory tasks correlate with within-individual fluctuations in depressed mood?
Effect estimate: ρ = -0.56
p-value: p=<0.05
Left prefrontal cortex activity during a verbal working memory task measured by optical topography negatively correlates with within-individual fluctuations in depressed mood, suggesting its potential as a state marker.
Left prefrontal activation may track within-person mood fluctuations; hypothesis-generating for use as a depression state marker.
Previous studies showed that interindividual variations in mood state are associated with prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity. In this study, we focused on the depressed-mood state under natural circumstances and examined the relationship between within-individual changes over time in this mood state and PFC activity. We used optical topography (OT), a functional imaging technique based on near-infrared spectroscopy, to measure PFC activity for each participant in three experimental sessions repeated at 2-week intervals. In each session, the participants completed a self-report questionnaire of mood state and underwent OT measurement while performing verbal and spatial working memory (WM) tasks. The results showed that changes in the depressed-mood score between successive sessions were negatively correlated with those in the left PFC activation for the verbal WM task (ρ = -0.56, p < 0.05). In contrast, the PFC activation for the spatial WM task did not co-vary with participants' mood changes. We thus demonstrated that PFC activity during a verbal WM task varies depending on the participant's depressed mood state, independent of trait factors. This suggests that using optical topography to measure PFC activity during a verbal WM task can be used as a potential state marker for an individual's depressed mood state.
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Sato et al. (2011) conducted an observational in Depressed mood. Depressed mood state was evaluated on Left prefrontal cortex activation during a verbal working memory task (ρ = -0.56, p=<0.05). Within-individual changes in depressed-mood scores were negatively correlated with left prefrontal cortex activation during a verbal working memory task (ρ = -0.56, p < 0.05).
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