Beta oscillations in major depression – signalling a new cortical circuit for central executive function

This study aimed to examine alterations in electroencephalography (EEG) phase synchronization in working memory processing in depressed patients. Sixty-four-channel EEG signals were recorded from 33 depressed patients and 32 healthy controls during a visual n-back task. Alterations in functional connections in the patients were investigated using event-related phase coherence in terms of the phase synchronization index (PSI). Compared with the control subjects, the depressed patients showed a lower task-dependent increase in the PSI of delta, theta, and alpha oscillations in a frontoparietal network, but a higher task-dependent increase in the PSI of beta oscillations in the frontoparietal network. Additionally, depressed patients showed a lower task-dependent decrease in the PSI of delta, theta, alpha, and beta oscillations in centro-parieto-occipital sites. Insufficient phase synchronization and desynchronization during working memory processing reflects impairments in cortical inhibition, memory, and attention efficiency in major depression, while the abnormal increase in phase synchronization in beta oscillations in the frontoparietal network may indicate a new cortical circuit concerned with the repair of impaired ability in attention, memory retention, and working memory central executive processing. These findings present a compensatory mechanism for impaired cognitive function in major depression, and advance our understanding of functional aspect of beta oscillations.