Cognitive, behavioral, and autonomic correlates of mind wandering and perseverative cognition in major depression

Abstract

Autonomic dysregulation has been hypothesized to play a role in the relationships between psychopathology and cardiovascular risk. An important transdiagnostic factor that has been associated with autonomic dysfunction is perseverative cognition (PC), mainly present in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in the form of rumination. As the ability to adaptively let our mind wander without ruminating is critical to mental health, this study aimed to examine the autonomic concomitants of functional vs. dysfunctional intrusive thoughts in MDD. Ambulatory heart rate (HR) and variability (HRV) of 18 MDD subjects and 18 healthy controls were recorded for 24 h. Approximately every 30 min during waking hours subjects reported their ongoing thoughts and moods using electronic diaries. Random regression models were performed. Compared to controls, MDD subjects were more often caught during episodes of PC. In both groups, PC required more effort to be inhibited and interfered more with ongoing activities compared to mind wandering (MW) (ps < 0.0001). This cognitive rigidity was mirrored by autonomic inflexibility, as PC was characterized by lower HRV (p < 0.0001) compared to MW. A worse mood was reported by MDD patients compared to controls, independently of their ongoing cognitive process. Controls, however, showed the highest mood worsening during PC compared to being on task and MW. HRV during rumination correlated with self-reported somatic symptoms on the same day and several dispositional traits. MDD subjects showed lower HRV during sleep, which correlated with hopelessness rumination. Results show that PC is associated with autonomic dysfunctions in both healthy and MDD subjects. Understanding when spontaneous thought is adaptive and when it is not may clarify its role in the etiology of mood disorders, shedding light on the still unexplained association between psychopathology, chronic stress, and risk for health.

Neurobiological substrates of cognitive rigidity and autonomic inflexibility in generalized anxiety disorder

“…Thus, the induction had the effect to make the two groups more similar both at a behavioural and at a neural level. These findings extend to anxiety disorder previous observations from pathological worriers (Ottaviani et al, 2014) and patients with major depression (Ottaviani et al, 2015b).…”

“…In line with Friedman and Thayer's model (1998), the cognitive inflexibility that characterized perseverative cognition was mirrored, at a physiological level, by autonomic rigidity. Two 24-hours ambulatory studies replicate these findings in healthy (Ottaviani et al, 2015a) and depressed participants (Ottaviani et al, 2015b). …”

Are you mind-wandering, or is your mind on task? The effect of probe framing on mind-wandering reports

“…An important point to note is that while we only included two response options at each probe, many past studies have used much longer lists of options (e.g., Frank, Nara, Zavagnin, Touron, & Kane [2015] included 8 response options and Ottaviani et al [2015] included 9 response options at each probe). The potential for response bias may increase as the number of response options increases, due to the increasing difficulty of making such judgments (Krosnick, 2009).…”

Amygdala functional connectivity as a longitudinal biomarker of symptom changes in generalized anxiety

“…Tonic HRV is closely linked to individual differences in emotional responsivity and capacity for self-regulation (Thayer et al , 2009). Importantly, symptoms of worry and rumination, encapsulated within the transdiagnostic concept of perseverative cognition (Brosschot et al , 2006) are associated with chronic (e.g., Brosschot et al , 2007; Pieper et al , 2010; Ottaviani et al , 2015a, b) and phasic (e.g. Ottaviani et al , 2009, 2014; Ottaviani and Shapiro, 2011) reductions in HRV in patients with GAD (Chalmers et al , 2014) and in healthy individuals (Ottaviani et al , 2016).…”