Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

The Influence of Affect on Cognition01:29

The Influence of Affect on Cognition

Positive affect significantly influences cognitive processes, including evaluation, memory, creativity, and social judgments. Compared to negative affect, positive emotional states promote more favorable interpretations of stimuli, cognitive flexibility, and heuristic processing. These effects highlight emotions' powerful role in shaping how individuals perceive, remember, and interact with the world.Influence on Evaluation and AttributionWhen individuals experience positive affect, they are...
The Influence of Cognition on Affect01:29

The Influence of Cognition on Affect

Cognition plays a pivotal role in shaping emotional experiences, as demonstrated by Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotion. According to this model, emotion arises from a combination of physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation. The body’s physiological response to stimuli is ambiguous and only gains emotional significance through cognitive labeling. For instance, an increased heart rate and adrenaline surge while standing near an attractive person may be interpreted as...
Depressive Disorders: Etiology01:27

Depressive Disorders: Etiology

Depressive disorders result from a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors, each contributing uniquely to the development and persistence of the condition. Understanding these factors provides critical insight into the multifaceted nature of depression.
Biological Factors in Depression
Biological predispositions significantly influence the risk of developing depressive disorders. Genetic studies highlight the role of variations in the serotonin transporter...
Depression: Overview01:18

Depression: Overview

Depression is a prevalent mental illness marked by persistent sadness and lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities. It can take several forms, including major depression, persistent depressive disorder, and bipolar I and II disorders. Symptoms range from emotional changes like chronic worry to physical changes like sleep disturbances and suicidal thoughts. From a neurobiological perspective, depression is believed to be triggered by abnormalities in the brain's prefrontal cortex,...
Depressive Disorders: MDD and Dysthymia01:27

Depressive Disorders: MDD and Dysthymia

Depressive disorders are a group of mental health conditions characterized by pervasive feelings of sadness, diminished pleasure in life, and a significant impact on daily functioning. These conditions are most prevalent in individuals during their 30s and affect women at twice the rate of men. Contrary to popular belief, younger individuals are generally more susceptible to these disorders than older adults. Two key types of depressive disorders include Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and...
First Impression01:09

First Impression

First impressions play a crucial role in social perception, shaping how individuals assess others in professional, academic, and interpersonal contexts. Psychological research highlights the significance of cognitive biases, such as the primacy and recency effects, which influence how people interpret and recall information.The Primacy Effect and Cognitive AnchoringThe primacy effect describes the tendency for initial information to impact judgment disproportionately. When individuals encounter...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Characterizing aggression and suicide attempts among high-risk U.S. Veterans: Demographic, clinical, and military characteristics.

Military psychology : the official journal of the Division of Military Psychology, American Psychological Association·2026
Same author

Increased risk of smoking and pain in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder in the All of Us dataset.

Frontiers in psychiatry·2025
Same author

Extreme ("20") self-shocks during the Self-Aggression Paradigm and lifetime suicide attempt history: Potential use in suicide research.

Journal of psychiatric research·2025
Same author

Moving Beyond Self-Reports of Aggression in Military Veterans.

Military medicine·2025
Same author

The association between aggression and suicidal behaviors in veterans at risk for suicide.

Journal of psychiatric research·2025
Same author

Integrative analysis of psychosocial, chronotype, and environmental predictors of aggressive behavior in Adolescents: Insights from machine learning.

Journal of psychiatric research·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2026

An Olfactory Preference Test for Measuring Olfactory Hedonic Biases in Mouse Models of Depression
06:27

An Olfactory Preference Test for Measuring Olfactory Hedonic Biases in Mouse Models of Depression

Published on: July 11, 2025

Identifying differences in biased affective information processing in major depression.

Jackie K Gollan1, Heather T Pane, Michael S McCloskey

  • 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 446 East Ontario Street, Suite 7-204, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. j-gollan@northwestern.edu

Psychiatry Research
|March 18, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Major depression is linked to slower processing of sad facial expressions and a bias toward interpreting neutral faces as sad. Healthy individuals are more likely to perceive neutral faces as happy.

More Related Videos

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content
07:21

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

Published on: June 29, 2016

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
14:04

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Published on: August 26, 2011

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 6, 2026

An Olfactory Preference Test for Measuring Olfactory Hedonic Biases in Mouse Models of Depression
06:27

An Olfactory Preference Test for Measuring Olfactory Hedonic Biases in Mouse Models of Depression

Published on: July 11, 2025

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content
07:21

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content

Published on: June 29, 2016

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
14:04

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Published on: August 26, 2011

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent mental health condition.
  • Affective information processing, including facial expression recognition, is often impaired in MDD.
  • Understanding these processing differences is crucial for diagnosis and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare affective information processing between individuals with MDD and healthy controls.
  • To investigate differences in facial expression recognition, intensity categorization, and reaction times.
  • To identify specific biases in emotional perception associated with depression.

Main Methods:

  • A facial recognition task was administered to 66 participants (37 with MDD, 29 healthy).
  • Data included diagnoses, symptom severity, and reaction times to emotional and neutral stimuli.
  • Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used for group comparisons.

Main Results:

  • Depressed participants showed significantly longer reaction times to sad facial expressions.
  • Depressed individuals exhibited a negative bias, interpreting neutral faces as sad more often.
  • Healthy participants were more likely to interpret neutral faces as happy.
  • No significant group differences were found in facial expression recognition or intensity categorization.

Conclusions:

  • Major depression impacts the speed of processing negative affective information.
  • Depression is associated with biases in interpreting ambiguous facial cues.
  • These findings highlight altered emotional perception in MDD, particularly concerning negative stimuli and neutral expressions.