Dataset Information

Attentional bias for negative, positive, and threat words in current and remitted depression.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of the underlying mechanisms in the maintenance of depression. We examined attentional bias (AB) for negative and positive adjectives and general threat words in strictly-defined clinical groups of participants with pure Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) without a history of anxiety disorders (AD), mixed MDD and AD, and remitted participants.

Method

We investigated both stimulus specificity and time course of AB in these groups, adopting a cross-sectional design. Data were drawn from the large scale Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA), from which we selected all participants with pure current MDD without a history of AD (n = 29), all participants with current MDD and co-morbid AD(s) (n = 86), all remitted MDD participants (n = 294), and a comparison group without (a history of) MDD or ADs (n = 474). AB was measured with an Exogenous Cueing Task covering short and long presentation times (500 and 1250 ms) and 4 stimulus types (negative, positive, threat, neutral).

Results

Both traditional and trial level (dynamic) AB scores failed to show an AB for negative adjectives in participants with MDD or mixed MDD/AD. Specifically for long duration trials (1250 ms), remitted participants showed a larger AB traditional score (albeit the actual score still being negative) than the comparison group. The mixed MDD/AD group showed a higher trial-level AB score away from positive adjectives (1250 ms) than the comparisons. In addition, the mixed MDD/AD group showed higher and more variable trial-level AB scores away from short and towards longer presented general threat words together with a non-significant tendency to show less negative traditional AB scores for threat trials (500 ms) than the comparison group.

Conclusions

All in all, the findings do not corroborate the view that an AB towards negative or away from positive adjectives is critically involved in currently depressed individuals. Yet, the relatively high (less negative) AB score for negative adjectives in remitted individuals points to the possibility that an AB for negative information may be involved as a risk factor in the recurrence of MDD.

SUBMITTER: Elgersma HJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6209165 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Attentional bias for negative, positive, and threat words in current and remitted depression.

Elgersma Hermien J HJ Koster Ernst H W EHW van Tuijl Lonneke A LA Hoekzema A A Penninx Brenda W J H BWJH Bockting Claudi L H CLH de Jong Peter J PJ

PloS one 20181031 10

<h4>Background</h4>The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of the underlying mechanisms in the maintenance of depression. We examined attentional bias (AB) for negative and positive adjectives and general threat words in strictly-defined clinical groups of participants with pure Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) without a history of anxiety disorders (AD), mixed MDD and AD, and remitted participants.<h4>Method</h4>We investigated both stimulus specificity and time course of AB in th ...[more]

PMID: 30379840

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Project description:The recurrent nature of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) necessitates a better understanding of mechanisms facilitating relapse. MDD has often been associated with abnormal emotion regulation, underpinned by aberrant interactions between the prefrontal cortex and subcortical areas. We assessed whether neural regulation abnormalities remain after remission and relate to emotion regulation problems in daily life. At the baseline measurement of a randomized controlled trial, an emotion regulation task was performed during fMRI scanning by 46 remitted recurrent (rrMDD) patients and 24 healthy controls. We assessed both fMRI peak activity and the temporal dynamics of the neural response during passive attendance and explicit regulation of positive and negative emotions. Furthermore, we assessed regulation strategy use in daily life using questionnaires, and attentional biases using a modified attentional dot-probe task. RrMDD patients showed lower activation and different temporal dynamics in occipital, parietal, and prefrontal brain regions during passive attendance of emotional material compared to healthy controls. During explicit downregulation of negative emotions, no group differences were found. However, during explicit upregulation of positive emotions, rrMDD patients showed a different neural response over time in the insula. Behaviourally, rrMDD patients were characterized by dysfunctional regulation strategies in daily life. Within rrMDD patients, rumination was associated with activation within a limbic- prefrontal network. After remission, immediate emotional processing seems unaffected, but regulatory abnormalities remain, especially uninstructed and in daily life. Abnormal insula activation during positive upregulation suggests decreased monitoring of positive emotions. The relation between inadequate rumination and brain activity during emotion regulation suggests that regulation of both positive and negative affect is important in understanding neurocognitive underpinnings of resilience.

Dataset Information

Attentional bias for negative, positive, and threat words in current and remitted depression.

Background

Method

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Attentional bias for negative, positive, and threat words in current and remitted depression.

Similar Datasets

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