A recent study has discovered that changes in our brain patterns, which shape our trust behavior, can serve as an early warning sign for depression, even before symptoms become noticeable. Just like how unusual behavior from our devices can indicate the presence of malware, changes in our trust behavior can alert us to the possibility of depression sneaking up on us.
While their findings add to previous studies that showed a connection between trust and depression, they were the first to uncover the neuroanatomical basis of this relationship.
Structural neuroimaging analyses by the researchers showed both low trust and high depressive symptoms are linked to reduced gray matter volumes in the […] brain regions that help humans control their emotions, think, and predict others’ mental states and behaviors. Thus, the reduced volume of these brain regions in low trusters suggests possible disturbances in emotion control and in the estimation of others’ trustworthiness, which may contribute to the development of depression.
What causes these brain regions to shrink, however, is still unknown.
The researchers are planning to find out what other personality types could be used as biosocial markers in predicting the onset of mental disorders.
“The neuroanatomy of social trust predicts depression vulnerability”
6 October 2022, Scientific Reports