Life is … great! Emotional attention during instructed and uninstructed ambiguity resolution in relation to depressive symptoms

Abstract

Attention and interpretation biases are closely involved in depression-related processing of emotional material. However, it is unclear whether attention and interpretation biases reflect a processing tendency (i.e., driven by schemas or prior learning) or an ability-related process (i.e., dependent on attentional control). This study tested how depressive symptom severity, attention bias, and interpretation bias are related under tendency versus ability processing conditions. Fifty-two participants completed two versions of the scrambled sentences test (to measure interpretation bias) while eye movements were recorded (to measure attention bias) in separate experimental sessions. To assess tendency and ability processes, participants were instructed to unscramble the sentences by reporting the first sentence that comes to mind (tendency version; session 1) and to unscramble the sentences in a fixed, positive manner (ability version; session 2). Results showed that depressive symptom severity was correlated with attention bias under both tendency and ability conditions. Analyses showed that attention bias (i.e., the fixation time spent on positive versus negative words) acted as an intervening variable in the relation between depressive symptoms and interpretation bias only during ability processes. These findings suggest that depression-linked biases in attention reflect both processing tendencies and ability-related processes in attentional control, with attentional control as a relevant mechanism in the subsequent interpretation of emotional material. Implications for cognitive theories and cognitive training methods are discussed.