Processing of Emotional Information in Major Depressive Disorder: Toward a Dimensional Understanding
Open accessAbstract
Several decades of research converge on the formulation that individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit negative biases in their processing of emotional information. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that traditional between-group comparisons have obscured the substantial heterogeneity of cognitive and affective dysfunction that is associated with depressive symptomatology. In this article, we review the findings of research examining attention to and memory for negative emotional information using a more dimensional perspective on depression. Specifically, we explore studies that assess cognitive biases along a continuum of depressive symptom severity and consider the influence of co-occurring dimensions of functioning, in particular the severity of anxiety symptoms. Finally, we identify critical empirical questions and issues in this growing literature.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Depressed patients' attention tends to linger longer on negative information such as sad faces than healthy controls do.
“Generally speaking, depressed patients’ attention tends to linger longer on negative information such as sad faces than healthy controls do, which suggests a negative bias in the way that depressed individuals sample information from their environments.”
From Paying attention to attention in depression (2019) · cites this paper as [59]
Depressed patients tend to spend more time attending to negative information such as sad faces than neutral or positive information.
“A large body of research, largely utilizing the Dot Probe56 or Emotional Stroop Task57 has shown that depressed patients tend to spend more time attending to negative information, such as sad faces than neutral or positive information (for review see refs. 58,59).”
From Paying attention to attention in depression (2019) · cites this paper as [59]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
American Psychiatric Association (2013) · doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 · Cited by 116,369 · see citing works
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed.
Carter, M. J. (2014) · Therapeutic Recreation Journal · Cited by 15,154 · see citing works
Kessler, R. C., Chiu, W. T., Demler, O., & Walters, E. E. (2005) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.617 · Cited by 12,052 · see citing works
(1975) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 7,245 · see citing works
Higgins, S. M. F., Macken, A. P., Cullen, W., Saunders, J., Dunne, C. P., & O’Gorman, C. S. (2013) · PubMed · doi:10.34961/9953 · Cited by 4,806 · see citing works
Tripartite model of anxiety and depression: psychometric evidence and taxonomic implications.
Clark, L., & Watson, D. (1991) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.100.3.316 · Cited by 4,616 · see citing works
Tripartite model of anxiety and depression: psychometric evidence and taxonomic implications
Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (1991) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.100.3.316 · Cited by 4,601 · see citing works
Cognition and Depression: Current Status and Future Directions
Gotlib, I. H., & Joormann, J. (2010) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131305 · Cited by 2,420 · see citing works
Self-citationAutobiographical memory specificity and emotional disorder.
Williams, J. M. G., Barnhofer, T., Crane, C., Herman, D., Raes, F., Watkins, E., & Dalgleish, T. (2007) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.122 · Cited by 1,688 · cited 1× · see citing works
“MDD has also been characterized by certain biases in autobiographical memory (reviewed in Sumner, 2012; Williams et al., 2007).”
BackgroundComorbidity of anxiety and unipolar mood disorders
Mineka, S., Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1998) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.377 · Cited by 1,573 · see citing works
Cognitive therapy and emotional disorders
Wolpe, J. (1977) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/0005-7916(77)90053-2 · Cited by 1,282 · see citing works
Eye tracking of attention in the affective disorders: a meta-analytic review and synthesis
Armstrong, T., & Olatunji, B. O. (2012) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.09.004 · Cited by 1,049 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…to information representing themes of sadness and loss, a cognitive bias that occurs only at later, elaborative, stages of attention and is not observed in non-depressed individuals (reviewed in Armstrong & Olatunji, 2012; Gotlib & Joormann, 2010; Peckham, McHugh, & Otto, 2010; Wisco, 2009).”
BackgroundA meta-analysis of the effect of cognitive bias modification on anxiety and depression
Hallion, L. S., & Ruscio, A. M. (2011) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0024355 · Cited by 891 · see citing works
Widiger, T. A., & Samuel, D. B. (2005) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.114.4.494 · Cited by 752 · see citing works
Mood-congruent recall of affectively toned stimuli: A meta-analytic review
Matt, G. E., Vázquez, C., & Campbell, W. K. (1992) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/0272-7358(92)90116-p · Cited by 726 · see citing works
A meta-analysis of the magnitude of biased attention in depression
Peckham, A. D., McHugh, R. K., & Otto, M. W. (2010) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.20755 · Cited by 647 · see citing works
Attentional bias in anxiety and depression: The role of awareness
Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., & Williams, R. (1995) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1995.tb01434.x · Cited by 559 · see citing works
Mogg, K., Millar, N., & Bradley, B. (2000) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.109.4.695 · Cited by 515 · see citing works
Mogg, K., Millar, N., & Bradley, B. P. (2000) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.109.4.695 · Cited by 478 · see citing works
Attentional biases for negative information in induced and naturally occurring dysphoria
Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., & Lee, S. C. (1997) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(97)00053-3 · Cited by 424 · see citing works
Koster, E. H. W., De Raedt, R., Goeleven, E., Franck, E., & Crombez, G. (2005) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.5.4.446 · Cited by 397 · see citing works
Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., Millar, N., & White, J. (1995) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.104.3.532 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., Millar, N., & White, J. (1995) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.104.3.532 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Dunn, B. D., Stefanovitch, I., Evans, D., Oliver, C., Hawkins, A., & Dalgleish, T. (2010) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2010.07.006 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Depressive cognition: Self-reference and depth of processing
Wisco, B. E. (2009) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2009.03.003 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
Sumner, J. A. (2012) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2011.10.003 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Everaert, J., Duyck, W., & Koster, E. H. W. (2014) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0035250 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
Dozois, D., & Dobson, K. (2001) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.110.2.236 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Biases in visual orienting to negative and positive scenes in dysphoria: an eye movement study.
Caseras, X., Garner, M., Bradley, B. P., & Mogg, K. (2007) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.116.3.491 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Dozois, D. J. A., & Dobson, K. S. (2001) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.110.2.236 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Koster, E. H. W., De Raedt, R., Leyman, L., & De Lissnyder, E. (2010) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.11.004 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Gilboa-Schechtman, E., Erhard-Weiss, D., & Jeczemien, P. (2002) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/s0165-1781(02)00266-4 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Selective attention in social phobia and the moderating effect of a concurrent depressive disorder
Musa, C., Lépine, J., Clark, D. M., Mansell, W., & Ehlers, A. (2003) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(02)00212-7 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Implicit memory bias in clinical and non-clinical depression
Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., & Millar, N. (1996) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(96)00074-5 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
The Appraisal Bias Model of Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression
Méhu, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2015) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073915575406 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Common and distinct patterns of affective response in dimensions of anxiety and depression.
Larson, C. L., Nitschke, J. B., & Davidson, R. J. (2007) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.182 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Implicit memory bias in depression
Watkins, P. C. (2002) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930143000536 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Attention and Memory Biases in Social Anxiety Disorder: The Role of Comorbid Depression
LeMoult, J., & Joormann, J. (2010) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-010-9322-2 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Attention Allocation and Incidental Recognition of Emotional Information in Dysphoria
Ellis, A. J., Beevers, C. G., & Wells, T. T. (2010) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-010-9305-3 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Everaert, J., Tierens, M., Uzieblo, K., & Koster, E. H. W. (2013) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2013.787972 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
(2004) · World Pumps · doi:10.1016/s0262-1762(04)00136-1 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Attention for emotional facial expressions in dysphoria: An eye-movement registration study
Leyman, L., Raedt, R. D., Vaeyens, R., & Philippaerts, R. M. (2010) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931003593827 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Koster, E. H. W., Leyman, L., Raedt, R. D., & Crombez, G. (2006) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.12.022 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Wolitzky-Taylor, K., Dour, H., Zinbarg, R., Mineka, S., Vrshek-Schallhorn, S., Epstein, A., Bobova, L., Griffith, J., Waters, A., Nazarian, M., et al. (2014) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.22250 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Implicit and explicit memory biases in mixed anxiety–depression
Tarsia, M. (2002) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/s0165-0327(02)00119-2 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Emotion-congruent attentional biases: the perspective of hierarchical models of emotional disorders
Yovel, I., & Mineka, S. (2004) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.06.003 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Mood congruent memory in Dysphoria: The roles of state affect and cognitive style
Direnfeld, D. M., & Roberts, J. E. (2005) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.03.014 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Watkins, E. R. (2015) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073915575400 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Memory for emotional faces in naturally occurring dysphoria and induced sadness
Ridout, N., Noreen, A., & Johal, J. (2009) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.06.013 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
When and Why Are Emotions Disturbed? Suggestions Based on Theory and Data From Emotion Research
Scherer, K. R. (2015) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073915575404 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Hierarchical models of emotional disorders and emotion-congruent cognitive biases
Yovel, I., & Mineka, S. (2003) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/s0191-8869(03)00125-9 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Time-course of attention to negative stimuli: Negative affectivity, anxiety, or dysphoria?
Oehlberg, K. A., Revelle, W., & Mineka, S. (2012) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0027227 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Identity recognition and happy and sad facial expression recall: Influence of depressive symptoms
Jermann, F., der Linden, M. V., & D'Argembeau, A. (2008) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658210801935413 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Gilboa, E., Roberts, J. E., & Gotlib, I. H. (1997) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/026999397380032 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Self-citationContributions of Basic Research to the Cognitive Theories of Depression
Dykman, B. M., & Abramson, L. Y. (1990) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167290161004 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Short-term memory for emotional faces in dysphoria
Noreen, S., & Ridout, N. (2010) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211003762092 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Ingram RE, & Siegle GJ (2009). Methodological issues in the study of depression. In Handbook of Depression (2nd ed., pp. 69– 92). New York: The Guilford Press.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Paying attention to attention in depression
Keller, A. S., Leikauf, J. E., Holt-Gosselin, B., Staveland, B. R., & Williams, L. M. (2019) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-019-0616-1 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
Anxiety and depression: toward overlapping and distinctive features
Eysenck, M. W., & Fajkowska, M. (2017) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2017.1330255 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Attention Bias in Rumination and Depression: Cognitive Mechanisms and Brain Networks
Kaiser, R. H., Snyder, H. R., Goer, F., Clegg, R. A., Ironside, M. L., & Pizzagalli, D. A. (2018) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702618797935 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Geschwind, N., Arntz, A., Bannink, F., & Peeters, F. (2019) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2019.03.005 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Nature and Relation to Non-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Lorenzo‐Luaces, L., Keefe, J. R., & DeRubeis, R. J. (2016) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2016.02.012 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Richter, T., Fishbain, B., Fruchter, E., Richter‐Levin, G., & Okon‐Singer, H. (2021) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.06.044 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Increased neural sensitivity to self‐relevant stimuli in major depressive disorder
Benau, E. M., Hill, K. E., Atchley, R. A., O’Hare, A. J., Gibson, L. J., Hajcak, G., Ilardi, S. S., & Foti, D. (2019) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.13345 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Facial and prosodic emotion recognition in social anxiety disorder
Tseng, H., Huang, Y., Chen, J.-T., Liang, K.-Y., Lin, C.-C., & Chen, S. (2017) · Cognitive Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1080/13546805.2017.1330190 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Neural architecture supporting active emotion processing in children: A multivariate approach
Camacho, M. C., Karim, H. T., & Perlman, S. B. (2018) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.12.013 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Remote Assessment of Depression Using Digital Biomarkers From Cognitive Tasks
Mandryk, R. L., Birk, M. V., Vedress, S., Wiley, K., Reid, E., Berger, P., & Frommel, J. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.767507 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Combined behavioural markers of cognitive biases are associated with anhedonia
Salem, T., Winer, E. S., & Nadorff, M. R. (2017) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2017.1307808 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Richter, T., Stahi, S., Mirovsky, G., Hel-Or, H. Z., & Okon‐Singer, H. (2024) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.03.035 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Keller, A. S., Ling, R., & Williams, L. M. (2021) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-021-00963-0 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Kuehl, L. K., Deuter, C. E., Nowacki, J., Ueberrueck, L., Wingenfeld, K., & Otte, C. (2021) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-021-05969-7 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Richer, M., Grenier, S., & Plusquellec, P. (2024) · PLOS mental health. · doi:10.1371/journal.pmen.0000098 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Salem, T., Fristad, M. A., Arnold, L. E., Taylor, H. G., Frazier, T. W., Horwitz, S. M., Findling, R. L., & The LAMS Group (2020) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.150 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Bouchard, A. E., Dumas, E., & Fecteau, S. (2023) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-820480-1.00044-9 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Preglej, L., Marinković, K., & Hečimović, H. (2021) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci11111402 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Differences in emotional stimuli processing in subjects with MTLE with and without depression
Preglej, L., Marinković, K., & Hečimović, H. (2017) · Epilepsy & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.06.030 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Ciotei, C., Păunescu, H., Lungu, C., Marica, A., Tănase, M. F., Marin, R., Costescu, M., Fulga, I., & Coman, O. A. (2026) · Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine · doi:10.1111/jcmm.71392
- Authors
- Kircanski, K., & Gotlib, I. H.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gotlib, Ian H.
- Venue
- Emotion Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-04-10
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 256-264
- ISSN
- 1754-0739 (ISSN-L)
- 1754-0747
- PMC
- PMC13134468
- OpenAlex
- W2320408286
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 3.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Emotion Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (4r01mh101495-04)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH101495, MH101495, MH74849, R01MH074849, F32MH096385)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Keywords
- major depressive disorder, emotional processing, attentional bias, depression severity, anxiety symptoms
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
