Event-Related Potentials and executive control deficits in major depression: evidence from the Attention Network Test
Kustubayeva A. Zholdassova M. Kamzanova A. Madaliyeva Z. Suleimenova A. Nessipbayev S. Borbassova G. Arman D. Nelson E. Matthews G.
2026Frontiers Media SA
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
2026#19
Objective: Behavioral and neurological studies suggest that major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with pervasive deficits in executive control of attention. Research using Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to investigate attentional impairments in depression has provided mixed results. The current study aimed to clarify abnormalities in ERPs associated with depression through use of the Attention Network Test (ANT) which assesses efficiency of three fundamental brain networks: executive control, alerting, and orienting. Methods: Participants were 93 volunteers. We compared ERP amplitudes in healthy, subsyndromal depression, and MDD groups (31 participants per group) during performance of an extended-duration version of the ANT. Results: Both N100 and P300 ERP amplitudes were generally lower in the MDD group across central-parietal and posterior sites, with medium-to-large effect sizes. There were also significant effects of depression on the ANT indices for executive control and alerting. Further analyses showed that some abnormalities in ERPs were seen in the subsyndromal group and that depression effects were stable across time, despite vigilance decrement. Conclusion: Neurocognitive deficits in depression may relate to depletion of a general attentional resource.
alerting , Attention Network Test , biomarkers , Event-Related Potentials , executive control , major depressive disorder
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Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Departments of Biophysics, Biomedicine, and Neuroscience, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Psychology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Keruen-Medicus, Almaty, Kazakhstan
School of Information Technology and Engineering, Kazakh-British Technical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Departments of Biophysics
Department of Psychology
Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health
Keruen-Medicus
School of Information Technology and Engineering
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
Department of Psychology
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