Behavioral Activation and Brain Network Changes in Depression.

Behavioral activation (BA) is a well-established method of evidence-based treatment for depression. There are clear links between the neural mechanisms underlying reward processing and BA treatment for depressive symptoms, including anhedonia; however, integrated interpretations of these two domains are lacking. Here we examine brain imaging studies involving BA treatments to investigate how changes in brain networks, including the reward networks, mediate the therapeutic effects of BA, and whether brain circuits are predictors of BA treatment responses.

Prefrontal Functional Connectivity During the Verbal Fluency Task in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study.

Deviations in activation patterns and functional connectivity have been observed in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) with prefrontal hemodynamics of patients compared with healthy individuals. The graph-theoretical approach provides useful network metrics for evaluating functional connectivity. The evaluation of functional connectivity during a cognitive task can be used to explain the neurocognitive mechanism underlying the cognitive impairments caused by depression.

Empathy and Social Attribution Skills Moderate the Relationship between Temporal Lobe Volume and Facial Expression Recognition Ability in Schizophrenia.

Objective: While impaired facial expression recognition has been closely associated with reduced temporal lobe volume in patients with schizophrenia, this study aimed at examining whether empathy and social attribution affect such a relationship.

Methods: A total of 43 patients with schizophrenia and 43 healthy controls underwent a facial expression recognition task (FERT) and magnetic resonance imaging. Basic empathy scale and the social attribution task-multiple choice were used to measure empathy and social attribution.