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Age-Dependent Relationships Between Resting-State Network Connectivity and Hot and Cold Cognition in Adults with Major Depressive Disorder: A MEG Study

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

F. Kathryn King¹ (fek6250@mavs.uta.edu), Anna C. Manning², Amy L. Proskovec², Elizabeth M. Davenport², Aatika Parwaiz², Crystal M. Cooper^1,2, Shawn M. McClintock^2,3, Tracy L. Greer^1,2; ¹University of Texas at Arlington, ²University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, ³Perot Neuroscience Translational Research Center

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) affects mood and hot cognitive functions, including emotion recognition, reward processing, impulsivity, and social decision-making. Little is known about how these processes and their neural networks vary across the adult lifespan. We investigated this using resting-state connectivity in adults with MDD. Twenty-eight adults with MDD (age 22–76 years; mean ± SD = 45 ± 15.4) completed a battery of hot cognitive tasks, including emotion recognition, moral decision-making, and delay discounting. Resting-state MEG was source-reconstructed across Salience, Default Mode (DMN), and Frontoparietal Control (FPCN) networks, with FPCN subdivided into frontal and parietal subnetworks. Amplitude envelope correlation and graph centrality metrics (degree, betweenness, clustering) were computed per network and frequency band (delta, alpha, low gamma), and correlations and age-partial correlations with cognitive performance were computed (all p-values FDR corrected). In the Salience network, delta and low gamma band centrality (degree, betweenness, clustering) predicted emotion recognition and moral decision-making (ps<.05), but these associations did not survive age adjustment. In the DMN, alpha-band betweenness predicted delay discounting (p=.011), remaining significant and slightly stronger after controlling for age (p=.002). In the FPCN frontal subnetwork, delta-band connectivity predicted delay discounting only after age adjustment (p=.030). Resting-state network connectivity predicted hot cognitive performance in adults with MDD, with age influencing network-specific effects. Salience effects weakened, whereas DMN and FPCN frontal associations persisted or strengthened across age. This suggests that age-sensitive declines in Salience connectivity affect emotion recognition and moral decision-making, while DMN and FPCN frontal networks maintain stable or compensatory function.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Development & aging