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A disturbed sense of self is a core feature of depression. The medial prefrontal cortex, which has a central role in self-appraisal processes, is often implicated in the illness, although it remains unclear how functional alterations of the region contribute to the observed disturbances. The aim of this study was to clarify the role of the medial prefrontal cortex in self-appraisal processes in depression.

The authors applied a recently developed dynamic network model of self-directed cognition to functional MRI data from 71 adolescents and young adults with moderate to severe major depressive disorder, none of whom were being treated with medication, and 88 healthy control participants. Bayesian model averaging was used to determine parameter estimates for the dynamic causal models, which were compared between groups.

While self-directed cognitive processes in the depression group …