Conflict-related N2 ERP Component in Co-existent Depression and Burnout Is Uniquely Predicted by Depression

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to refine the understanding of conflict processing mechanisms in overlapping depression and burnout by (1) analyzing the N2 component of event-related potentials (ERPs), and (2) applying covariate statistical models to control for the shared variance between depression and burnout in a subclinical sample. N2 ERP component was recorded in 43 participants during a Flanker task. PHQ-9 and OLBI inventories were used to assess depression and burnout, respectively. Performance and N2 were analyzed using ANCOVA with simultaneous PHQ-9, OLBI and their interaction covariates. Analysis accounting for shared variance showed that (1) performance depended on syndrome interaction, and (2) only depression affected N2 during high-conflict information processing. Together, the findings indicate that depression is the primary determinant of altered conflict-monitoring, with behaviour being modulated by syndromes interaction. New evidence is provided that, although burnout and depression overlap at the phenomenological level, they are not neurophysiologically identical when analyzed under appropriate statistical control.