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Cited by 583Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesTreatment of Major Depression

Understanding vulnerability for depression from a cognitive neuroscience perspective: A reappraisal of attentional factors and a new conceptual framework

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De Raedt, Rudi, Koster, Ernst H. W.·2010·Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
DOI 10.3758/cabn.10.1.50
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Abstract

We propose a framework to understand increases in vulnerability for depression after recurrent episodes that links attention processes and schema activation to negative mood states, by integrating cognitive and neurobiological findings. Depression is characterized by a mood-congruent attentional bias at later stages of information processing. The basic idea of our framework is that decreased activity in prefrontal areas, mediated by the serotonin metabolism which the HPA axis controls, is associated with an impaired attenuation of subcortical regions, resulting in prolonged activation of the amygdala in response to stressors in the environment. Reduced prefrontal control in interaction with depressogenic schemas leads to impaired ability to exert attentional inhibitory control over negative elaborative processes such as rumination, leading in turn to sustained negative affect. These elaborative processes are triggered by the activation of negative schemas after confrontation with stressors. In our framework, attentional impairments are postulated as a crucial process in explaining the increasing vulnerability after depressive episodes, linking cognitive and biological vulnerability factors. We review the empirical data on the biological factors associated with the attentional impairments and detail how they are associated with rumination and mood regulation. The aim of our framework is to stimulate translational research.

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  • Such neural network alterations are posited to contribute to impaired regulatory control of stimulus-driven affective processing, producing rigid negative biases evident across a wide range of implicit information processing domains (e.g., negative appraisals of self, environment, future; preferential attention and memory for negative stimuli).

    “Such neural network alterations are posited to contribute to impaired regulatory control of stimulus-driven affective processing 7,45 , producing rigid negative biases evident across a wide range of implicit information processing domains (e.g., negative appraisals of self, the environment, and the future 46 ; preferential attention and memory for negative stimuli 45,47 ).”

    From Neuroplasticity in cognitive and psychological mechanisms of depression: an integrative model (2020) · cites this paper as [47]

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  • Attention shows valence-specific alterations in depressed patients including attentional preference for dysphoric stimuli and biases away from positive stimuli.

    “Attention, which acts as an initial filter on the information entering conscious awareness, shows valence-specific alterations in depressed patients including attentional preference for dysphoric stimuli and biases away from positive stimuli 45,47,83 .”

    From Neuroplasticity in cognitive and psychological mechanisms of depression: an integrative model (2020) · cites this paper as [47]

    The review reports greater attention to sad or other depression-relevant material in depressed people (table, pp. 67–71). It also reports reduced attention to positive material, but its summary (p. 17) describes this chiefly as an absence of the positivity bias seen in non-depressed people. Avoidance of positive words is reported for dysphoric participants in one experiment, so a general bias away from positive stimuli in depressed patients overstates the evidence. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • Research has demonstrated the significance of biased attention and interpretation in the development and maintenance of psychopathology such as anxiety and depression.

    “Research has indeed demonstrated the significance of biased attention and interpretation in the development and maintenance of psychopathology such as anxiety disorders and depression (e.g., Blackwell and Holmes 2010; De Raedt and Koster 2010).”

    From Mindfulness, Interpretation Bias, and Levels of Anxiety and Depression: Two Mediation Studies (2019) · cites this paper as De Raedt and Koster 2010

    The section “Causal influence of attentional bias on depression” discusses evidence linking attentional bias to vulnerability, development, and the course of depressive symptoms; it also reports prospective evidence concerning anxiety and depression. The “Insert Figure 1 about here” section describes attentional bias in both conditions. The passages do not establish the claimed significance of biased interpretation, and the paper qualifies the causal evidence for attentional bias rather than presenting it as fully demonstrated. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  • The neural substrates of affective biases have been posited to involve inadequate PFC regulation of stimulus-driven limbic responses and generalized deficiencies of cognitive inhibition.

    “Consistent with our integrative framework (Table 2), the neural substrates of affective biases have been posited to involve inadequate PFC regulation of stimulus-driven limbic responses 8,47 and generalized deficiencies of cognitive inhibition 7 .”

    From Neuroplasticity in cognitive and psychological mechanisms of depression: an integrative model (2020) · cites this paper as [47]

  • Early social stress is thought to heighten susceptibility to disorder by leading to hyperactivity of the HPA axis and up-regulating proinflammatory immune responses.

    “and is thought to heighten susceptibility to disorder by leading to hyperactivity of the HPA axis [38,39] and up-regulating proinflammatory immune responses [40].”

    From The depressed brain: an evolutionary systems theory (2017) · cites this paper as [38]

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. [12]12. Beevers, C. G., Wells, T.T., Ellis, A. J., & McGeary, J. (In press). Polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) gene are associated with difficulty disengaging attention from emotional stimuli. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
  2. [45]45. Ellis, H. C., & Ashbrook, P. W. (1988). Resource allocation model of the effects of depressed mood states on memory. In K. Fiedler & J. Forgas (Eds.), Affect, cognition, and social behaviour (pp. 25-43). Toronto: Hogrefe.
  3. [52]52. Gitlin, M.G. (2009). Pharmacotherapy and other somatic treatments for depression. In I.H. Gotlib & C.L. Hammen (Eds.), Handbook of Depression (second edition) (pp. 554-585). New York: The Guilford Press.
  4. [170]170. Thase, M.E. (2009). Neurobiological aspects of depression. In I.H. Gotlib & C.L. Hammen (Eds.), Handbook of Depression (second edition) (pp. 187-217). New York: The Guilford Press.
  5. [179]179. Wells, T. T., & Beevers, C. G. (in press). Attention training reduces depressive symptoms. Cognition & Emotion

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Authors
De Raedt, R., & Koster, E. H. W.
Affiliations
Ghent University (BE)
ORCID
Koster, Ernst H. W.
Venue
Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2010-03
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
50-70
ISSN
  • 1530-7026 (ISSN-L)
  • 1531-135X
DOI
10.3758/cabn.10.1.50
OpenAlex
W2052075745
Semantic Scholar
7c8b977a0964726e5b106fb2984e14bb70719f3e
Cited by
583
References
185
Citations by year
2026: 30 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 51 · 2018: 47 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 43 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 26
FWCI
98.24
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
Universiteit Gent
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
depression vulnerability, recurrent depression, attentional bias, schema therapy, rumination, mood regulation, prefrontal control, serotonin, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, amygdala, stress response, negative affect, cognitive vulnerability
MeSH terms
Attention, Cognition Disorders, Concept Formation, Depression, Eye Movements, Humans, Models, Biological, Neuropsychological Tests, Neurosciences, Comprehension, Translational Research, Biomedical

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