Project Summary

Wiveka Ramel, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2006) of Stanford University, aims to use imaging to study the role of the amygdala in individuals with a history of recurrent major depression during encoding and retrieval of charged words. It is hypothesized that remitted depressed (RD) individuals will exhibit a significantly greater association between amygdala response to negative words and retrieval of these words than never depressed (ND) individuals. In the proposed study, Dr. Ramel will scan (RD) and (ND) matched individuals using fMRI while they are performing a self-referent encoding (SRET) task following a sad mood induction. Immediately after the SRET, participants will do free recall and forced-choice recognition tasks. Participants' psychiatric status will be assessed every 6 months for 18 months. The amygdala-recall association is expected to predict depressive relapse in the RD group during follow-up. This finding would imply a functional neuroanatomical mediation of the amygdala in memory biases that places some individuals at increased risk for depressive relapse.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDER\Unipolar

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