Negativity bias is a core feature of depression that is associated with dysfunctional frontoamygdalar connectivity; this pathway is associated with emotion regulation and sensitive to neurobiological change during puberty. We used a valence bias task (ratings of emotional ambiguity) as a potential early indicator of depression risk and differences in frontoamygdalar connectivity. Previous work using this task demonstrated that children normatively have a negative bias that attenuates with maturation. Here, we test the hypothesis that persistence of this negativity bias as maturation ensues may reveal differences in emotion regulation development, and may be associated with increased risk for depression. In children aged 6–13 years, we tested the moderating role of puberty on relationships between valence bias, depressive symptoms, and frontoamygdalar connectivity. A negative bias was associated with increased depressive symptoms for those at more advanced pubertal stages (within this sample) and less regulatory frontoamygdalar connectivity, whereas a more positive bias was associated with more regulatory connectivity patterns. These data suggest that with maturation, individual differences in positivity biases and associated emotion regulation circuitry confer a differential risk for depression. Longitudinal work is necessary to determine the directionality of these effects and explore the influence of early life events.

中文翻译：

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探索效价偏差作为儿童额杏仁核连接和抑郁症状的指标

消极偏见是抑郁症的核心特征，与功能失调的额杏仁核连接相关；该通路与情绪调节有关，对青春期的神经生物学变化敏感。我们使用效价偏差任务（情绪模糊性评分）作为抑郁风险和额杏仁核连接差异的潜在早期指标。以前使用此任务的工作表明，儿童通常具有随着成熟而减弱的负面偏见。在这里，我们检验了这样一个假设，即随着成熟的持续存在这种消极偏见可能揭示情绪调节发展的差异，并可能与抑郁症风险增加有关。在 6-13 岁的儿童中，我们测试了青春期对效价偏差、抑郁症状、和额杏仁核连接。对于处于更晚期青春期阶段（在该样本中）和较少调节的额杏仁核连接性，负偏倚与抑郁症状增加相关，而更正偏倚与更多的调节连接模式相关。这些数据表明，随着年龄的增长，积极偏见和相关情绪调节电路的个体差异会导致抑郁症的风险不同。纵向工作对于确定这些影响的方向性并探索早期生活事件的影响是必要的。而更积极的偏见与更多的监管连接模式相关。这些数据表明，随着年龄的增长，积极偏见和相关情绪调节电路的个体差异会导致抑郁症的风险不同。纵向工作对于确定这些影响的方向性并探索早期生活事件的影响是必要的。而更积极的偏见与更多的监管连接模式相关。这些数据表明，随着年龄的增长，积极偏见和相关情绪调节电路的个体差异会导致抑郁症的风险不同。纵向工作对于确定这些影响的方向性并探索早期生活事件的影响是必要的。