The early stage of processing emotional faces in patients with major depressive disorder: an event-related potential study.

In order to investigate the early stage of processing emotional faces in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), we recorded and analyzed the N170 elicited by happy, angry and neutral faces. It was found that the N170 was significantly lower in patients with depressive disorder than that in the control group, especially at the left occipital-temporal area. The N170 was significantly modulated by facial expression, but this emotional effect was similar between patients with MDD and controls. These data provide further electrophysiological evidence for processing emotional faces in patients with MDD.