Impulsive Traits and Unplanned Suicide Attempts Predict Exaggerated Prefrontal Response to Angry Faces in the Elderly.

The article presents a study which evaluated the neural responses of older suicide attempters to emotional faces. The relationship of these neural responses to impulsivity was also examined. In a sample of 18 depressed elderly with histories of suicide attempts, neuro-hemodynamic responses to angry faces were recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The study found that depression and history of attempted suicides are not associated with neural responses to angry faces.