Cognitive Control, Cognitive Biases and Emotion Regulation in Depression: A New Proposal for an Integrative Interplay Model.

Dolores Villalobos,Carmelo Vázquez,Javier Pacios

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.628416

Abstract

Research traditions on cognition and depression focus on relatively unconnected aspects of cognitive functioning. On one hand, the neuropsychological perspective has concentrated on cognitive control difficulties as a prominent feature of this condition. On the other hand, the clinical psychology perspective has focused on cognitive biases and repetitive negative patterns of thinking (i.e., rumination) for emotional information. A review of the literature from both fields reveals that difficulties are more evident for mood-congruent materials, suggesting that cognitive control difficulties interact with cognitive biases to hinder cognitive switching, working memory updating, and inhibition of irrelevant information. Connecting research from these two traditions, we propose a novel integrative cognitive model of depression in which the interplay between mood-congruent cognitive control difficulties, cognitive biases, and rumination may ultimately lead to ineffective emotion-regulation strategies to downregulate negative mood and upregulate positive mood.

Highlights

The World Health Organization identifies depression as one of the most prevalent disorders worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people
After reviewing and synthesizing the evidence gathered in these fields, which have been scarcely interconnected in the extant literature, we propose an integrative cognitive model of depression in which the interplay between cognitive control difficulties, cognitive biases, and rumination may be a key constituent of ineffective emotion-regulation strategies to downregulate negative mood and upregulate positive mood
Our review reveals that most of these studies confirm the existence of cognitive control difficulties in these patients, when the material has emotional valence

Summary

Introduction

The World Health Organization identifies depression as one of the most prevalent disorders worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people. It seems that patients with MDD present an altered performance in their ability to update relevant information in working memory, when the information that is no longer relevant has emotional content of negative valence.

Results

Conclusion