Functional brain networks, mental health & sensory processing

13/05/2025

Salience Network Expansion May Be A Reliable Biomarker for Depression
A new commentary highlights a groundbreaking discovery: individuals with depression consistently show an enlarged salience network, a brain system responsible for attention regulation and switching between mental states.
This expansion appears to be stable over time, unaffected by symptom severity or treatment, and may precede the onset of depression, making it a potential early biomarker.
Researchers suggest the enlargement could result from genetic factors, compensatory neural activity, or atrophy in other brain regions.

Salience Network Expansion May Be A Reliable Biomarker for Depression

A new commentary highlights a groundbreaking discovery: individuals with depression consistently show an enlarged salience network, a brain system responsible for attention regulation and switching between mental states.

This expansion appears to be stable over time, unaffected by symptom severity or treatment, and may precede the onset of depression, making it a potential early biomarker.

Researchers suggest the enlargement could result from genetic factors, compensatory neural activity, or atrophy in other brain regions.

23/01/2025

Targeting Reward Pathways to Treat Depression

Researchers have identified two brain signals, expected value and prediction error, that predict recovery potential in individuals with depression.

These signals, part of the brain’s reward-learning system, influence how people respond to rewards and setbacks, with implications for tailoring treatments to individual needs.