Depression is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, conferring substantial healthcare and societal costs. By studying methods to non-invasively target neural circuitry involved in reward responsivity, information generated by this project will improve understanding of the circuit alterations that underlie motivation and pleasure deficits in depression, and could also lead to the development of biologically-based markers of neurostimulation-based treatment response.
All participants
18-65 years old
Normal (or corrected to normal) vision
Participants with MDD
Premorbid IQ estimate < 70
Past or present neurological problems (including seizures and head trauma resulting in neurological or cognitive sequelae)
Loss of consciousness > 30 minutes or any loss of consciousness with neurological sequelae
Major medical conditions (e.g., seizure disorders, treatment with anticonvulsant medication, endocrine disorders, significant cardiac pathology), or other physical conditions if they preclude participation in EEG, TMS, or MRI protocols (e.g. peripheral nerve damage, limb paralysis etc.)
Crossover
TMS: single session intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) to dorsomedial prefrontal target in individuals with major depressive disorder, via MagVenture MagPro R30 device / Cool-DB80 A/P coil
DeviceActive Session: Single session of standard iTBS of 50Hz triplet bursts, 5 times each second with a 2 s on / 8 s off duty cycle for 600 pulses per hemisphere (1200 pulses total) will be applied for a total stimulation time of 6:40 minutes
SHAM (inactive) TMS stimulation
DeviceSham neurostimulation (SHAM) entails use of the sham side of the D-B80 A/P placed over the same anatomical target, without any active stimulation.
Targeted neurostimulation effects on reward feedback evaluation
Within the MDD group, the investigators will examine whether neurostimulation of a dmPFC target induces changes in the Reward Positivity (RewP) event-related potential component by comparing RewP amplitude after iTBS to RewP amplitude after sham stimulation.
Targeted neurostimulation effects on reward anticipation and late-stage evaluation
Within the MDD group, the investigators will examine whether neurostimulation of a dmPFC target induces changes in anticipatory event-related potential components (SPN; stimulus-preceding negativity, CNV; contingent negative variation) and late-stage evaluation (LPP; late-positive potential) by comparing component amplitudes after iTBS to amplitudes after sham stimulation.
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