Negative emotion impacts memory for verbal discourse in pediatric bipolar disorder

Abstract

Objectives Cognitive and emotional deficits have been documented in youth with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD); however, to date, a systematic evaluation of comprehension and memory for verbally presented information has not been conducted. The effect of emotion on comprehension and memory for verbally presented material also has not been examined. We examined whether youth with PBD have difficulty recalling the big picture (macrostructure) as well as the story details (microstructure). Methods A total of 35 youth with PBD and 25 healthy controls completed an Affective Story Task. A psychological processing model allowed for the examination of both the macrostructure and microstructure of language comprehension. Results Youth with PBD were capable of comprehending the gist of the stories and were not impaired by emotion when comprehending and remembering macrostructure. However, negative emotional material was found to proactively interfere with the encoding and recall of microstructure. Level of depression appeared to impact recall of microstructure, but not macrostructure. Conclusions Negatively valenced material may impair subsequent comprehension and memory for details among youth with PBD. This deficit could impact the daily functioning of these youth, as the perception of negative affect may derail aspects of successful comprehension and learning.

Intrinsic Amygdala Functional Connectivity in Youth With Bipolar I Disorder

“…Further studies with larger samples are needed to confirm whether negatively valenced emotional material interferes with encoding and recall of stimuli in youth with BD. 55 Importantly, those youth with BD in the present study who had higher levels of separation anxiety also had stronger laterobasal-hippocampal connectivity, an association consistent with a neural model of aversive learning or threat conditioning that predisposes adolescents to develop anxiety disorders. 56 In this context, it is noteworthy that anxiety is the most common comorbidity in pediatric BD 57 and adversely affects the course of BD among youth.…”

Affective Processing in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder and Offspring of Bipolar Parents

“…The biases in affective information processing observed in BD have been linked with altered information processing speed and deficits in verbal memory and response inhibition (Schenkel et al 2008;Passarotti et al 2010;Singh et al 2010;Jacobs et al 2011;Passarotti et al 2013). In particular, previous studies in BD have consistently shown a robust effect of negative stimuli on cognitive processing Passarotti et al 2011;Pavuluri et al 2012).…”

Negative Emotion Interference During a Synonym Matching Task in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

“…These results suggest a heightened sensitivity to emotions in this patient group, with greater impact of both positive and negative emotional content on attentional performance (Compton et al, 2003; Posner et al, 2009; Stormark, Nordby, & Hugdahl, 1995; Williams et al, 1996). This pattern suggests more pervasive emotional influence of negative and positive emotional content on performance, that may underlie a compromised affect regulation system in PBD (Passarotti & Pavuluri, 2011; Pavuluri & Passarotti, 2008) and may affect important cognitive functions such as memory and learning (Jacobs et al, 2011). It is possible that the attentional system in PBD patients is more sensitive or biased toward processing emotional information first.…”

“…There is also growing evidence that in challenging situations children with PBD exhibit not only increased emotional reactivity but also reduced attentional performance in tasks with negative contingencies and feedback (Gorrindo et al, 2005;Rich et al, 2005), and worse recall of short story details when negative emotional content is involved (Jacobs et al, 2011). Therefore, both child and adult patients with BD might be more sensitive to negative emotions (Geller, Warner, Williams, & Zimerman, 2008), which may be an additional stressor that hinders affect regulation, the ability to cope with familial or social conflict, and may lead to relapse.…”