Journal of Undergraduate Research
Keywords
depressive disorder, memory specificity, resting-state fMRI
College
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Previous research suggests that those with depression have altered brain structures compared to control participants. For example, depressed individuals have smaller hippocampal volumes than those not diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (Brown, Rush & McEwen, 1999). The hippocampus plays a major role in memory, especially by storing different stimuli as separate and distinct memories in the brain (Yassa & Stark, 2011). This process of storing the stimuli separately correctly is known as pattern separation (PS). Depressed individuals also have reduced neurogenesis (the birth and growth of new neurons in adulthood) in the hippocampus compared to controls. Those diagnosed with depression, then, struggle to separate stimuli into distinct memories due to both reduced hippocampus size and reduced neurogenesis.
Recommended Citation
Alder, Kayla and Kirwan, Dr. Brock
(2016)
"Impact of Major Depressive Disorder on Memory Specificity and Resting-State fMRI,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2016:
Iss.
1, Article 76.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2016/iss1/76