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FB Kolloq SoSe2025: Carola Dell‘Acqua

„Early indicators of depression vulnerability: an RDoC psychophysiologi-cal perspective ”

Veranstaltungsdaten

Prof. Dr. Carola Dell‘Acqua, University of Padua, Italy
„Early indicators of depression vulnerability: an RDoC psychophysiological perspective”

Depression is a pervasive and debilitating condition, making the early identification of underlying mechanisms and the development of preventive strategies a critical priority. Given the heterogeneity that encompasses depression, a way to better identify vulnerability mechanisms linked to depression is to move beyond the categorical approach and, instead, adopt a dimensional approach. In this talk, I will present a series of studies that I conducted on at-risk populations (e.g., individuals with familial risk, remitted depression, or subthreshold depression). These studies leverage psychophysiological measures—including EEG, ECG, and actigraphy—to examine key RDoC domains. Our findings indicate that event-related potentials (ERPs) reveal blunted emotional processing of both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli in at-risk individuals, suggesting deficits in Positive and Negative Valence Systems. Additionally, impairments in the perception and interpretation of bodily signals, along with dysregulated autonomic nervous system activity, point to alterations in Arousal and Regulatory Systems. Furthermore, actigraphy-based assessments suggest reduced physical activity in at-risk individuals, reflecting potential deficits within the Sensorimotor Systems. Together, these findings suggest that depression vulnerability might be associated with dysfunctions across multiple RDoC domains. Future directions for the application of psychophysiological research in reaching a more complete understanding of depression vulnerability and, ultimately, improving clinical practice, will be presented.