Abstract
Background: The orbital frontal cortex is involved with processing of performance
feedback. This study tests the hypothesis that older depressed subjects, compared
with elderly control subjects, commit more subsequent errors after receiving feedback
from an initial error.
Methods: We administered 116 older depressed patients and 139 control subjects the
Trail Making Test Part B (TRAILS-B). Subjects who committed an error on TRAILS-B were
immediately given feedback on performance. We then measured the frequency of making
an error on the subsequent three tries. The likelihood of making any subsequent error
was examined.
Results: After controlling for the overall initial error rate, more depressed patients
than control subjects made subsequent errors. This association remained significant
in later regression models. When the depressed group was examined in additional models,
severity of depression was not associated with increased subsequent errors.
Conclusions: These results extend previous findings suggesting a performance feedback
deficit in geriatric depression. The findings support previous studies linking the
orbital frontal cortex and depression.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
April 6,
2001
Received in revised form:
April 2,
2001
Received:
December 5,
2000
Identification
Copyright
© 2001 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
