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Abstract
Major depression is a heterogeneous disorder. Biological markers and cognitive tasks
have been employed to distinguish clinical subtypes but results have been inconclusive.
The current study assessed implicit learning with the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT)
known to be sensitive to frontostriatal dysfunctions and regional brain volumes of
the anterior supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) in participants with early-onset major
depression (MD) of either melancholic (n=26) or non-melancholic (n=9) subtype, and
26 matched controls.
Depressive subjects with melancholic features but not those with non-melancholic depression
showed implicit learning deficits. This deficit could not be explained in terms of
more severe depression or psychomotor retardation. Regional volumes of the right pre-SMA
were reduced in depressive subjects with melancholic features.
Medication effects in depressive subjects and the small size of the non-melancholic
sample should be taken into consideration when reviewing the implications of these
results.
Deficits in implicit motor sequence learning seem to be an additional characteristic
of the melancholic subtype of depression. It might be linked to dysfunction within
structural or functionally altered frontostriatal circuits. Use of implicit sequence
learning tasks could offer useful diagnostic and aetiological cues for future research.