Associations between phenomenal and objective aspects of concentration problems in depressed patients

Abstract

The paper explores a distinction between different kinds of lapse of concentration in depressed patients. The strategy is to begin with the phenomenological distinction between the mind (a) 'wandering' on to something else or (b) going 'blank'. Blanking, but not mind-wandering, is associated with longer planning times on the 'Tower of London' task. In contrast, mind-wandering but not blanking, is associated with poor memory for prose, at least under ordinary processing conditions. Different phenomenal forms of concentration problem thus have different task performance correlates. A tentative formulation is offered in terms of Shallice's model of the regulation of attention. Mind-wandering is seen as a problem of 'contention scheduling', and blanking as the result of generalized inhibition by the Supervisory Attentional System. It is evident that not all performance deficits in depression can be attributed to the cognitive capacity taken up by competing thoughts.

Mindwandering heightens the accessibility of negative relative to positive thought

“…In their seminal study, Golding and Singer (1983) reported that MW substantially explained variance in depressive attitudes, namely self-criticism, dependency, and inefficacy. In line with this, clinically and subclinically depressed samples show higher levels of MW (Smallwood, O'Connor, Sudbery, & Obonsawin, 2007;Watts, MacLeod, & Morris, 1988). Fourth, at the level of individual differences, depressive symptoms as well as rumination are worth mentioning.…”

Fronto-Striatal Cognitive Deficits at Different Stages of Parkinson's Disease

“…Furthermore, although the two medicated Parkinson's disease groups were equally slow in initiating their solutions, they differed significantly in their accuracy of performance. Prolonged initial thinking times may also be attributed to mental activity that is not devoted to solving the problem at hand, resulting in 'blanking' or 'mind-wandering' (Watts et al, 1988). The former may be likened to the so-called 'psychic akinesia' occasionally reported in cases of Parkinson's disease (Hassler, 1953;Rogers, 1986).…”

The Neural Network Basis for Abnormalities of Attention and Executive Function in Major Depressive Disorder: Implications for Application of the Medical Disease Model to Psychiatric Disorders

“…Of the 15 studies employing the Stroop Test, 36,78,79,88-90 the WCST, 21,67,69,72,88,91 or the Tower of London task [92][93][94] to evaluDegl'Innocenti and colleagues proposed that reduced rate of information processing was the primary problem for depressed subjects, Lemelin and coworkers 36 have asserted that, in addition, some depressed individuals have an impaired ability to inhibit distractors, and some have a resource-processing deficit.…”