The aim of the project is to investigate the neural correlates of disturbed perception of emotional information expressed by prosody and laughter in patients with unipolar depression and bipolar affective disorder using structural and functional neuroimaging in combination with genetics (imaging genetics). By inclusion of MDD patients as well as currently depressed BDP patients we aim to unravel which changes in brain activation during an emotional recognition task represent a general vulnerability marker for affective disorders and which features are unique for MDD or BPD, respectively. Furthermore, we aim to use genetic risk marker information to disentangle neurobiological mechanisms underlying impairment in emotion recognition in both disorders, as well as to determine the specific effects of those genetic variants on neural correlates of emotional processing in MDD and BPD, respectively.

Project leadership: Prof. Dr. Thomas Ethofer, University Hospital Psychiatry Unit, Tübingen, Germany

Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)