title: A review of cognitive biases in youth depression: attention, interpretation and memory.
abstract: Depression is one of the most common mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Although data consistently show it is associated with self-reported negative cognitive styles, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Cognitive biases in attention, interpretation and memory represent plausible mechanisms and are known to characterise adult depression. We provide the first structured review of studies investigating the nature and causal role of cognitive biases in youth depression. Key questions are (i) do cognitive biases characterise youth depression? (ii) are cognitive biases a vulnerability factor for youth depression? and (iii) do cognitive biases play a causal role in youth depression? We find consistent evidence for positive associations between attention and interpretation biases and youth depression. Stronger biases in youth with an elevated risk of depression support cognitive-vulnerability models. Preliminary evidence from cognitive bias modification paradigms supports a causal role of attention and interpretation biases in youth depression but these paradigms require testing in clinical samples before they can be considered treatment tools. Studies of memory biases in youth samples have produced mixed findings and none have investigated the causal role of memory bias. We identify numerous areas for future research in this emerging field.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy , Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich , Nussbaumstrasse 5a, Munich , Germany.
authors.forename: Belinda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Platt
authors.affiliation: b School of Applied Psychology , Griffith University , 176 Messines Ridge Road, Mt Gravatt, QLD , Australia.
authors.forename: Allison M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Waters
authors.affiliation: a Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy , Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich , Nussbaumstrasse 5a, Munich , Germany.
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schulte-Koerne
authors.affiliation: a Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy , Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich , Nussbaumstrasse 5a, Munich , Germany.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Engelmann
authors.affiliation: c Department of Developmental Psychology , University of Amsterdam , Weesperplein 4, Amsterdam , Netherlands.
authors.forename: Elske
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salemink
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D015982:Bias; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory
keywords: Youth; cognitive bias; depression