May
13
2009
Depression and Brain Thinning
A new study is reporting that descendants of people with a history of depression displayed large expanses of cortical thinning across the lateral surface of the right cerebral hemisphere. Tests on the participants showed that those with more thinning had greater difficulty with arousal, attention, and visual memory for social stimuli. Could cognitive problems lead to a greater chance for depression? Or is the thinning tied to a predisposition for depression in other ways?