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Cited by 150Treatment of Major DepressionNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Evidence of an early information processing speed deficit in unipolar major depression

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TSOURTOS, G., THOMPSON, J. C., STOUGH, C.·2002·Psychological Medicine
DOI 10.1017/s0033291701005001
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Abstract

Background. Slowing of the speed of information processing has been reported in geriatric depression, but it is not clear if the impairment is present in younger patients, if motor retardation is responsible, or if antidepressant medications play a role. Method. Twenty unmedicated unipolar depressed inpatients were compared with 19 medicated depressed in-patients and 20 age-, sex- and verbal IQ-matched controls on inspection time (IT), a measure of speed of information processing that does not require a speeded motor response. We also examined the relationship between IT and current mood and length of depressive illness. Results. Unmedicated depressed patients showed slowing of information processing speed when compared to both medicated depressed patients and controls. The latter two groups were not significantly different from each other. Slowing of IT was not associated with current mood, but was negatively correlated with length of illness since first episode. No differences in IT were found between patients receiving medication with anticholinergic effects and patients receiving medication with no anticholinergic effects. Conclusions. The findings indicate that unipolar depression is associated with a slowing of speed of information processing in younger patients who have not received antidepressant medication. This does not appear to be a result of motor slowing.

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  • A few studies found significantly lower processing speed scores for children with depression but not for those with anxiety.

    “a few studies found significantly lower PS scores for children with depression but not for those with anxiety8,56,57”

    From Diagnostic Associations of Processing Speed in a Transdiagnostic, Pediatric Sample (2020) · cites this paper as [56]

    The Abstract and Discussion report slower information processing in unmedicated depressed patients than in controls. But the groups had mean ages of roughly 36–39 years (Discussion, Table 1), not children, and the study did not compare depressed patients with patients with anxiety. It therefore does not support the claim’s child population or its depression-versus-anxiety distinction. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Inspection time was longer in unmedicated MDD patients than in medicated MDD or in healthy controls.

    “Inspection time was reportedly longer in unmedicated MDD patients than in medicated MDD or in healthy controls (Tsourtos et al. 2002).”

    From Brain structural and functional abnormalities in mood disorders: implications for neurocircuitry models of depression (2008) · cites this paper as Tsourtos et al. 2002

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Authors
TSOURTOS, G., THOMPSON, J. C., & STOUGH, C.
Affiliations
The University of Adelaide (AU)
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Medicine
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2002-02
Volume
32
Issue
2
Pages
259-265
ISSN
  • 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-8978
DOI
10.1017/s0033291701005001
OpenAlex
W2150128210
Cited by
150
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 8
FWCI
3.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 5545 d)
Locations
  • Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
  • Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
unipolar major depression, processing speed, inspection time, motor retardation, antidepressants, anticholinergic effects, untreated depression, young adults
MeSH terms
Adult, Affect, Antidepressive Agents, Attention, Major Depressive Disorder, Discrimination Learning, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Size Perception

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