Impaired memory updating associated with impaired recall of negative words in dysphoric rumination—Evidence for a removal deficit

Abstract

We present evidence that dysphoric rumination involves a working memory (WM) updating deficit. Sixty-one undergraduates-pre-screened with rumination and depression scales-completed a novel task providing a specific measure of WM updating. This task involved the substitution of emotionally-valenced words, and provided an online measure of the time taken to remove outdated items from WM. Results showed that dysphoric ruminators spent less time removing outdated words from WM when the new to-be-remembered word was negative. This effect was (1) associated with impaired subsequent recall of negative words, arguably caused by interference from the insufficiently removed outdated words; and (2) correlated with participants' rumination scores. This is the first study to use the novel removal task to investigate the nature of WM-updating impairments in rumination. The findings are consistent with a negative attentional bias in rumination, and provide preliminary evidence that rumination is associated with a valence-generic removal deficit during WM updating. Reducing the attentional bias could thus be an intervention target in the treatment of dysphoric rumination.

Not wallowing in misery – retractions of negative misinformation are effective in depressive rumination

“…While this was our working hypothesis, results from a separate experiment (E. P. Chang, Ecker, & Page, 2017) suggested a potentially different outcome. In that study, we investigated working memory updating in depressive rumination using valenced words.…”

Effects of working memory training on emotion regulation: Transdiagnostic review

“…The inability to “let go of” a negative thought and replace it with a more positive line of thinking has links to cognitive inhibition (Yang, Cao, Shields, Teng, & Liu, ) and setting aside distracting information: both key components of working memory. Rumination has been related to problems in updating information held in working memory (Chang, Ecker, & Page, ). High rumination and worrying is related to poor ability to switch between internal memory representations (Beckwe, Deroost, Koster, De Lissnyder, & De Raedt, ).…”

Interference Control in Working Memory

“…However, there is debate surrounding the underlying cognitive processes responsible for achieving interference control Fawcett & Taylor, 2008, 2010Festini & Reuter-Lorenz, 2017;Hasher, Lustig, & Zacks, 2007;Kane & Engle, 2003). Recently, Ecker and colleagues (Chang, Ecker, & Page, 2017;Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Farrell, Jarrold, & Greaves, 2012;Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2016) proposed that there is an active, item-wise removal process that facilitates both maintenance and updating of WM. With respect to maintenance, removing irrelevant information serves to minimize interference and effectively increases WM capacity (Oberauer et al, 2012;Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2016).…”

“…With respect to maintenance, removing irrelevant information serves to minimize interference and effectively increases WM capacity (Oberauer et al, 2012;Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2016). With respect to updating, efficiently removing outdated information facilitates the substitution of information in WM (Chang et al, 2017;Ecker, Lewandowsky, Oberauer, & Chee, 2010;.…”

“…In summary, various authors (Chang et al, 2017;Oberauer et al, 2012;Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2016) have proposed that the notion of active, item-wise removal can be seen as a "new" type of executive function assisting with interference control in the service of both maintenance and updating of WM. An alternative, or complementary, position has been to characterize the processes underlying interference control in WM as inhibitory suppression processes.…”