title: Spatial affect learning restricted in major depression relative to anxiety disorders and healthy controls.
abstract: Detecting and learning the location of unpleasant or pleasant scenarios, or spatial affect learning, is an essential skill that safeguards well-being (Crawford & Cacioppo, 2002). Potentially altered by psychiatric illness, this skill has yet to be measured in adults with and without major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders (AD). This study enrolled 199 adults diagnosed with MDD and AD (n=53), MDD (n=47), AD (n=54), and no disorders (n=45). Measures included clinical interviews, self-reports, and a validated spatial affect task using affective pictures (IAPS; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2005). Participants with MDD showed impaired spatial affect learning of negative stimuli and irrelevant learning of pleasant pictures compared with non-depressed adults. Adults with MDD may use a "GOOD is UP" heuristic reflected by their impaired learning of the opposite correlation (i.e., "BAD is UP") and performance in the pleasant version of the task.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences , Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine , Chicago , IL , USA.
authors.forename: Jackie K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Gollan
authors.forename: Catherine J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.forename: Denada
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hoxha
authors.forename: John Stockton
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Irick
authors.forename: Louise C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Hawkley
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cacioppo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013028:Space Perception; D055815:Young Adult