Altered Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Self-Referential Processing in Bipolar Disorder
- 1National Central University
Abstract
BackgroundBipolar disorder is associated with persistent social, cognitive, and functional impairment during euthymia, yet the neural mechanisms underlying these deficits remain unclear. Alterations to self-referential processing are a candidate mechanism, but existing electrophysiological studies rely on emotionally valenced paradigms that potentially confound self-processing with emotional biases.
MethodsWe analysed electroencephalography from 28 patients with bipolar disorder (type I or II) and 28 age- and sex-matched healthy controls during an emotionally neutral colour judgment task with self-related (preference) and non-self- related (similarity) conditions. Late positive potentials, temporal generalisation decoding, and frequency band decoding (theta, alpha, beta) were used to characterise the temporal dynamics and oscillatory correlates of self versus non-self processing.
ResultsControls showed higher overall event-related potential amplitudes and greater self versus non-self differentiation than patients (condition by group interaction, 337 to 946 ms). Broadband temporal generalisation decoding revealed extensive cross-temporal generalisation of the self versus non-self representation in controls, spanning most of the trial, but no significant generalisation in patients. Frequency analyses showed that alpha and beta carried self versus non-self information in both groups, with broader extent in controls, and that anterior theta carried this information in patients but not controls. Exploratory correlations linked decoding measures to rumination and anxiety but not to manic symptoms.
ConclusionsThe neural representation distinguishing self-referential from externally guided processing was both smaller in amplitude and less temporally sustained in bipolar disorder. Reduced persistence is not detectable by conventional amplitude analyses, and may bear on the self-related and social cognitive difficulties reported in this population.
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026altered,
title = {{Altered Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Self-Referential Processing in Bipolar Disorder}},
author = {P.-H. Chen and N. W. Duncan and H.-c. Lee and Y.-J. Liu and T.-Y. Hsu},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.30.26361790},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.30.26361790v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Altered Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Self-Referential Processing in Bipolar Disorder
AU - P.-H. Chen
AU - N. W. Duncan
AU - H.-c. Lee
AU - Y.-J. Liu
AU - T.-Y. Hsu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/30
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.30.26361790
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.30.26361790v1
AB - BackgroundBipolar disorder is associated with persistent social, cognitive, and functional impairment during euthymia, yet the neural mechanisms underlying these deficits remain unclear. Alterations to self-referential processing are a candidate mechanism, but existing electrophysiological studies rely on emotionally valenced paradigms that potentially confound self-processing with emotional biases. MethodsWe analysed electroencephalography from 28 patients with bipolar disorder (type I or II) and 28 age- and sex-matched healthy controls during an emotionally neutral colour judgment task with self-related (preference) and non-self- related (similarity) conditions. Late positive potentials, temporal generalisation decoding, and frequency band decoding (theta, alpha, beta) were used to characterise the temporal dynamics and oscillatory correlates of self versus non-self processing. ResultsControls showed higher overall event-related potential amplitudes and greater self versus non-self differentiation than patients (condition by group interaction, 337 to 946 ms). Broadband temporal generalisation decoding revealed extensive cross-temporal generalisation of the self versus non-self representation in controls, spanning most of the trial, but no significant generalisation in patients. Frequency analyses showed that alpha and beta carried self versus non-self information in both groups, with broader extent in controls, and that anterior theta carried this information in patients but not controls. Exploratory correlations linked decoding measures to rumination and anxiety but not to manic symptoms. ConclusionsThe neural representation distinguishing self-referential from externally guided processing was both smaller in amplitude and less temporally sustained in bipolar disorder. Reduced persistence is not detectable by conventional amplitude analyses, and may bear on the self-related and social cognitive difficulties reported in this population.
ER -