Electrophysiological Profiling of Depression in the Elderly

Frontostriatal system functioning has been proposed to underpin performance on executive functioning tasks; these structures are abnormally activated in adults with depression. In this study, the P200 and P300 event-related potentials (ERPs) were elicited during a classic two-tone auditory oddball task to compare the electrophysiological profiles of elderly people (N = 54; Mean age = 85.46 ± 6.21) diagnosed with clinical depression ( n = 17), subthreshold depression ( n = 25) or no depression ( n = 12). The P200 results revealed higher amplitude and significantly longer latencies in depressed groups relative to non-depressed participants. Higher P300 amplitude, but shorter latencies, were observed in depressed relative to non-depressed participants. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive information processing models of ERPs and the potential for non-cognitive factors to impact on the resulting electrophysiological profile.