Fronto-striatal correlates of impaired implicit sequence learning in major depression: An fMRI study

Abstract

Background: Neural network models of major depression (MD) suggest that the striatum is involved in the pathophysiology and is linked to key cognitive and clinical features. However, functional imaging studies have largely assessed the prefrontal cortex and have utilised emotional paradigms. This study sought to probe the integrity of fronto-striatal circuits using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in conjunction with a theoretically-driven motor sequencing implicit learning (IL) task. Methods: Nineteen patients with MD (mean age = 56.1 years, sd = 9.8) and 20 control participants (mean age = 50.6 years, sd = 11.9) participated. A blocked fMRI paradigm was used in association with..