Students Depression Cognitive Susceptible Attentional Bias

Objective:To examine the existence of attentional bias towards negative emotional information in subjects with cognitive vulnerability to depression, and to explore the characteristics of the negative attentional bias. Methods:(1) The cognitive style questionnaire(CSQ) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Seale(CESD)were used to assess1440undergraduates and got1378subjects with effective data. Computing the weakest scores based on the scores of CSQ as well as based on Abela’s weakest-link theory, we got subjects with cognitive vulnerability (CV) whoes weakest scores above one standard deviation of average.(2) The emotional Stroop task was applied in a sample of Chinese university students included28CV subjects,27HC subjects and17MDD.(3) Using repeated-measures analyses of variance, analyzed the accuracy rates and the reaction times (RT) in the emotional Stroop task.Results:(1) Psychological measure results:The CESD scores of MDD group were significantly larger than those of either the HC or of CV group, while did not reach significantly different between the HC and CV group. There are significant differences in weakest-link scores between any two group, CV>MDD>HC.(2) Behavioral results of the emotional Stroop task: There is a significant group difference for RT was found, and the mean RT of the MDD group and the CV group were longer than those of the HC group. We also found a main effect of stimuli type due to the mean RT for negative emotional stimuli being slower than that for positive and neutral stimuli. Moreover, a significant interaction between stimuli type and group also found in present research. Conclusion:Individuals with CV and MDD both showed significantly attentional bias for negative stimuli. This indicates that before the occurrence of clinical depression, negative attentional bias had already existed on cognitive vulnerability individuals, and this may be the early warning indicators of depression.