The Impact of Rumination Induction on IQ Performance

Performance deficits on cognitive tasks consistently occur in depressed and anxious individuals. Processing efficiency theory asserts these deficits might be accounted for by task-irrelevant processes, including the negative impact of rumination. This study seeks to better understand the relationship between cognitive deficits and depression by creating a ruminative state in healthy control subjects to elicit performance deficits similar to those observed in patients with depression. Specifically, we examined the effect of rumination induction on healthy undergraduates completing select subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). Participants were randomized to a rumination or distraction condition and administered WAIS-IV subtests hypothesized to be most affected by rumination and depression. Controlling for trait anxiety, individuals in the rumination condition performed more poorly on one subtest within the processing speed domain and on the Processing Speed Index score. These results support the processing efficiency model of cognitive deficits in depression, suggesting rumination induction interferes with efficient completion of mental tasks. Future research can build on these findings by studying this model in a clinical population and by continuing to improve the effectiveness of mood induction tasks for research on depression and other mood disorders.

抑郁与焦虑个体在认知任务中始终存在表现缺陷。加工效率理论（Processing Efficiency Theory）认为，这类表现缺陷可由与任务无关的认知过程解释，其中包括反刍思维（rumination）带来的负面影响。本研究旨在通过在健康对照受试者中诱发反刍思维状态，以模拟抑郁症患者中观察到的表现缺陷，从而进一步阐明认知缺陷与抑郁之间的关联。具体而言，本研究针对完成韦克斯勒成人智力量表第四版（Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fourth Edition，WAIS-IV）特定分测验的健康本科生，考察了反刍思维诱发对其表现的影响。受试者被随机分配至反刍思维组或分心对照组，并完成被认为受反刍思维与抑郁影响最为显著的WAIS-IV分测验。在控制特质焦虑的影响后，反刍思维组受试者在加工速度维度下的某一分测验以及加工速度指数得分上均表现更差。上述结果支持了抑郁相关认知缺陷的加工效率模型，表明反刍思维诱发会干扰心理任务的高效完成。未来研究可基于本研究结果，在临床人群中验证该模型，并持续优化用于抑郁及其他心境障碍研究的心境诱发任务效能。