A Pilot Study of Hippocampal Activity During a Verbal Memory Task in Depressed Young Adults

Title:A Pilot Study of Hippocampal Activity During a Verbal Memory Task in Depressed Young Adults

Volume: 8 Issue: 1

Author(s): Elisea De Somma*, Natalia Jaworska, Allegra Courtright, Signe Bray, R. Marc Lebel, Frank P. MacMaster and Glenda M. MacQueen

Affiliation:

• Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON,Canada

Keywords: Depression, fMRI, hippocampus, memory, youth, MDD.

Abstract: Background: Hippocampal volume is reduced in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), but the extent to which hippocampal function is altered in the context of MDD, particularly in young adults, is not well established. The hippocampus is important in recollection memory, a cognitive domain that is often impaired in depressed adults.

Objective: This pilot functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study aimed to assess hippocampal activity during a verbal memory task in unmedicated young adults with MDD (18-24 years of age) relative to healthy age-matched Controls.

Method: Brain activity was measured in hippocampal regions during verbal encoding and retrieval, and compared between groups (N=11 in each group); exploratory whole-brain assessments were also carried out.

Results: Greater right hippocampal activity during verbal memory encoding (vs. retrieval) was apparent in Controls. Further, in the MDD group, left hippocampal activity during encoding (vs. retrieval) was positively related to depression symptom severity and number of previous depressive episodes.

Conclusion: This pilot study is a stepping stone in examining the effect of depression on hippocampal function in young adults.

Cite this article as:

De Somma Elisea *, Jaworska Natalia, Courtright Allegra, Bray Signe, Lebel Marc R. , MacMaster P. Frank and MacQueen M. Glenda, A Pilot Study of Hippocampal Activity During a Verbal Memory Task in Depressed Young Adults, Adolescent Psychiatry 2018; 8 (1) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/2210676608666180112141332