Facial Expression Recognition and ReHo Analysis in Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract

Objective: To explore the characteristics of expression recognition and spontaneous activity of the resting state brain in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients to find the neural basis of expression recognition and emotional processing.Methods: In this study, two of the six facial expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, aversion, and surprise) were presented in quick succession using a short expression recognition test. The differences in facial expression recognition between MDD patients and healthy people were compared. Further, the differences in ReHo values between the two groups were compared using a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan to investigate the characteristics of spontaneous brain activity in the resting state and its relationship with clinical symptoms and the accuracy of facial expression recognition in patients with MDD.Results: (1) The accuracy of facial expression recognition in patients with MDD was lower than that of the HC group. There were differences in facial expression recognition between the two groups in sadness-anger (p = 0.026), surprise-aversion (p = 0.038), surprise-happiness (p = 0.014), surprise-sadness (p = 0.019), fear-happiness (p = 0.027), and fear-anger (p = 0.009). The reaction time for facial expression recognition in the patient group was significantly longer than that of the HC group. (2) Compared with the HC group, the ReHo values decreased in the left parahippocampal gyrus, left thalamus, right putamen, left putamen, and right angular gyrus, and increased in the left superior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, left medial superior frontal gyrus, and right medial superior frontal gyrus in the patient group. (3) Spearman correlation analysis showed no statistical correlation between ReHo and HAMD-17 scores in MDD patients (p > 0.05). The ReHo value of the left putamen was negatively correlated with the recognition of fear-surprise (r = −0.429, p = 0.016), the ReHo value of the right angular gyrus was positively correlated with the recognition of sadness-anger (r = 0.367, p = 0.042), and the ReHo value of the right medial superior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with the recognition of fear-anger (r = −0.377, p = 0.037).Conclusion: In view of the different performance of patients with MDD in facial expression tasks, facial expression recognition may have some suggestive effect on the diagnosis of depression and has clinical guiding significance. Many brain regions, including the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, striatum, hippocampus, and thalamus, in patients with MDD show extensive ReHo abnormalities in the resting state. These brain regions with abnormal spontaneous neural activity are important components of LCSPT and LTC circuits, and their dysfunctional functions cause disorder of emotion regulation. The changes in spontaneous activity in the left putamen, right angular gyrus, and right medial superior frontal gyrus may represent the abnormal pattern of spontaneous brain activity in the neural circuits related to emotion perception and may be the neural basis of facial expression recognition.

Multiple examinations indicated associations between abnormal regional homogeneity and cognitive dysfunction in major depressive disorder

“…The regional brain components of the salience network contain the dorsal ACC, putamen, anterior insula, and mid-cingulate, which mediate emotional regulation, monitoring for salient events, interoceptive awareness, and motivational behaviors (Yun and Kim, 2021). Consistent with previous studies (Yang et al, 2015;Fu et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2021), the ReHo values of the left putamen were reduced in patients with MDD. Previous studies have revealed that the left putamen volume was smaller in patients with MDD than that in HCs, and the left putamen was smaller in melancholic MDD compared with non-melancholic MDD (Sachs-Ericsson et al, 2018), suggesting that abnormal spontaneous neural activity in the left putamen of patients with MDD has an anatomical basis.…”

Altered regional homogeneity and its association with cognitive function in adolescents with borderline personality disorder

“…6 Alterations in regional homogeneity have been shown in several psychiatric dis orders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. [6][7][8] Functional abnormalities have been identified in the brain neural circuits of adolescents with borderline personality disorder. 2,9 For instance, abnormal activity has been shown in the limbic-cortical circuit and the default mode network (DMN), 3,4,10 both of which are crucial in emotion regulation 10,11 and in processing of a distorted self-image.…”

Altered Brain Function in First-Episode and Recurrent Depression: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

“…Previous studies have found differences in BOLD signals in the angular gyrus between patients with RDE or FDE and HCs, consistent with the present study ( Yuksel et al, 2018 ). Other studies have also reported that the ReHo and ALFF values in the left angular gyrus were lower in patients with MDD than in HCs ( Wang et al, 2012 ; Liu et al, 2021 ). Abnormalities in angular gyrus function can lead to cognitive impairment, a common clinical manifestation of MDD ( Lee et al, 2012 ).…”