Mood-congruent attention and memory bias in dysphoria: Exploring the coherence among information-processing biases.
Recent studies indicate that depression is characterized by mood-congruent attention bias at later stages of information-processing. Moreover, depression has been associated with enhanced recall of negative information. The present study tested the coherence between attention and memory bias in dysphoria. Stable dysphoric (n = 41) and non-dysphoric (n = 41) undergraduates first performed a spatial cueing task that included negative, positive, and neutral words. Words were presented for 250 ms under conditions that allowed or prevented elaborate processing. Memory for the words presented in the cueing task was tested using incidental free recall. Dysphoric individuals exhibited an attention bias for negative words in the condition that allowed elaborate processing, with the attention bias for negative words predicting free recall of negative words. Results demonstrate the coherence of attention and memory bias in dysphoric individuals and provide suggestions on the influence of attention bias on further processing of negative material.
Koster
Ernst H W
EH
Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium. ernst.koster@UGent.be
De Raedt
Rudi
R
Leyman
Lemke
L
De Lissnyder
Evi
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time; D012044:Regression Analysis