Neural Noise

Error processing in major depressive disorder: ERP systematic review and meta-analysis

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  • Event-related potential (ERP) studies of error processing in major depressive disorder have been systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed in Clinical Neurophysiology.1
  • Error-related ERPs are core electrophysiology measures for neural time-series and clinical assessment in depression.1
  • Authors include Liang, Hung, Ko, Lin, Chan, and Cheng (Clinical Neurophysiology, Volume 184, April 2026).1 1

Weekly enrichment (2026-07-20)

  • The paper is a systematic review and meta-analysis of ERP error-processing studies in major depressive disorder, published in Clinical Neurophysiology (Volume 184, article number 2111503, 2026).23
  • The literature search covered Web of Science, MEDLINE/PubMed and Scopus, with effect sizes computed as Hedges’ g using a random-effects, inverse-variance-weighted model.2
  • The meta-analysis pooled 22 studies comparing error-related negativity (ERN) and 10 studies comparing error positivity (Pe) amplitudes between MDD patients and healthy controls.2
  • Overall, ERN and Pe amplitudes in MDD patients were generally comparable to healthy controls, consistent with the previously inconsistent findings the review set out to reconcile.2
  • Moderator analysis found that MDD patients with comorbid conditions showed significantly reduced Pe amplitudes relative to controls (p = 0.001).2
  • Task type also moderated Pe: studies using the Flanker task reported significantly reduced Pe amplitudes in MDD (p = 0.012), a pattern not seen with other paradigms.2
  • No significant moderators were identified for ERN amplitude.2
  • The authors conclude that comorbidity and task design (particularly the Flanker task) influence Pe amplitudes and should be carefully controlled in future work; methodological factors are key to interpreting error-processing deficits in MDD.2
  • For context, an earlier meta-analysis (Moran et al., 2017; 28 studies, 1,757 participants) reported ERN slightly larger in depression (Hedges’ g approximately 0.21) but flagged high effect-size heterogeneity, and a registered p-curve report found only weak evidential value with ERN study power around 20-25%.4

Footnotes

  1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388245726000027?dgcid=rss_sd_all ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. https://pure.lib.cgu.edu.tw/en/publications/error-processing-in-major-depressive-disorder-a-systematic-review/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2026.2111503 ↩

  4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167876020300180 ↩

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