title: Turning quickly on myself: Automatic interpretation biases in dysphoria are self-referent.
abstract: Cognitive theories emphasise automatic interpretation biases (AIB) in the development and maintenance of depression. The current study examined AIB using the word sentence association paradigm for depression (WSAP-D) via endorsement rates and reaction time indices. We directly tested the importance of self-relevance for AIB by modifying the WASP-D task to include self-referent ambiguous stimuli and contrasting them with other-referent ambiguous stimuli. We hypothesised that the dysphoric group, but not the non-dysphoric group, would demonstrate AIB only for self-referent ambiguous stimuli. Consistent with our main hypotheses, dysphoric individuals endorsed negative interpretations more often and faster than non-dysphoric individuals, only for self-referent ambiguous stimuli. Self-relevance may be a critical aspect of AIB in dysphoric populations.
authors.affiliation: a Psychology Department , University of South Florida , Tampa , FL , USA.
authors.forename: Alexandra H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Cowden Hindash
authors.affiliation: a Psychology Department , University of South Florida , Tampa , FL , USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rottenberg
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depression; automatic biases; cognitive bias; interpretation bias; self-relevancy