Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:12:15.974Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Selective impairment in effortful information processing in major depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2003

Åsa Hammar ,
Anders Lund  and
Kenneth Hugdahl
Åsa Hammar*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bergen, Norway
Anders Lund
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, University of Bergen, Norway
Kenneth Hugdahl
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bergen, Norway Department of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, University of Bergen, Norway
*
*Request reprints to: Åsa Hammar, Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bergen, Aarstadveien 21, 5009 Norway. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Automatic and effortful information processing in depressed patients was investigated by a visual search paradigm, in order to examine dysfunctional effortful processing in depressed patients. Twenty-one patients with major depression, according to the DSM–IV, and with a moderate depression measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale score at >18 participated in the study. The healthy control group was matched for age, gender, and level of education. Half of the trials involved only one type of distractor, and the other half of the trials involved two types of distractors being presented. The results show that the performance of the depressed patients was equal to the control group when the target was easily recognized with only one type of distractor present. However, when target detection required a more difficult and complex attentive search strategy, effortful information processing, the depressed patients needed longer visual search time compared to the controls. Depressed patients seem to have impaired performance on effortful but not automatic information processing. (JINS, 2003, 9, 954–959.)

Keywords

Automatic and effortful information processingMajor depressionAttentionVisual search
Type
Brief Communication
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 9 , Issue 6 , September 2003 , pp. 954 - 959
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerman, P.T., Anhalt, J.M., Dykman, R.A., & Holcomb, P.J. (1986). Effortful processing deficits in children with reading and/or attention disorders. Brain and Cognition, 5, 22–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association (APA) (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.), (DSM–IV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Duncan, J. & Humphreys, G.W. (1989). Visual search and stimulus similarity. Psychology Review, 96, 433–458.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elliot, R. (2002). The neuropsychological profile in primary depression. In Harrison, J.E. & Owen, A.M. (Eds.), Cognitive deficits in brain disorders (pp. 273–293). London, UK: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Gage, F.H. (2000). Structural plasticity: Cause, result, or correlate of depression. Biological Psychiatry, 48, 713–714.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammar, Å., Lund, A., & Hugdahl, K. (in press). Automatic and effortful information processing in unipolar major depression. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology.Google Scholar
Hartlage, S., Alloy, L.B., Vazquez, C., & Dykman, B. (1993). Automatic and effortful processing in depression. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 247–278.10.1037/0033-2909.113.2.247CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hashler, L. & Zacks, R.T. (1979). Automatic and effortful processes in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 108, 356–388.10.1037/0096-3445.108.3.356CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, H.E. (1975). Psychomotor correlates of behavior disorder. In Kietzman, M.L., Sutton, S., & Zubin, J. (Eds.), Experimental approaches to psychopathology (pp. 421–450). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
LaBerge, D. (1973). Identification of two components of the time to switch attention: A test of serial and parallel model of attention. In Meyer, D.E. & Kornblum, S. (Eds.), Attention and performance (XIV) (pp. 71–85). London, UK: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Nuechterlein, K.H. (1984). Information processing and attentional functioning in the developmental course of schizophrenic disorders. Schizofrenia Bulletin, 10, 160–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parker, G., Hadzi-Pavlovic, D., Brodaty, H., Boyse, P., Mitchell, P., Wilhelm, K., Hickie, I., & Eyers, K. (1993). Psychomotoric disturbance in depression: Defining the constructs. Journal of Affective Disorder, 27, 255–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peretti, S., Judge, R., & Hindmarch, I. (2000). Safety and tolerability considerations: Tricyclic antidepressants vs. selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Acta Psychiatr Scand Supplement, 403, 17–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Posner, M.I. & Snyder, C.R. (1975). Attention and cognitive control. In Solso, R.L. (Ed.), Information processing and cognition: The Loyola symposium (pp. 55–85). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schneider, W. & Shiffrin, R.M. (1977). Controlled ND automatic human information processing: Detection search and attention. Psychological Reviews, 84, 1–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarbuck, A.F. & Paykel, E.S. (1995). Effects on major depression on cognitive function of younger and older subjects. Psychological Medicine, 25, 285–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veiel, H.O.F. (1997). A preliminary profile of neuropsychological deficits associated with major depression. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Psychology, 19, 587–603.Google ScholarPubMed
Wolfe, J.M. (1998). Visual search. In Pashler, H. (Ed.), Attention (pp. 13–73). Hove, England: Psychology Press, Ltd.Google Scholar
Zakzanis, K.K., Leach, L., & Kaplan, E. (1999). Neuropsychological differential diagnosis. Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers.Google Scholar