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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 7, 2026

Design and Implementation of an fMRI Study Examining Thought Suppression in Young Women with, and At-risk, for Depression

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Published on: May 19, 2015

Worrying and rumination are both associated with reduced cognitive control.

Mieke Beckwé, Natacha Deroost, Ernst H W Koster

Psychological Research

|October 1, 2013

Summary

Persistent negative thoughts in major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder are linked to impaired cognitive control. High-ruminators and high-worriers struggle with switching internal representations, especially with personally relevant negative information.

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Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Published on: July 19, 2017

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Persistent negative thought is a core symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
The neurocognitive mechanisms underlying persistent negative thought remain poorly understood.
Reduced cognitive control has been proposed as a potential explanatory factor.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the association between persistent negative thought and the ability to switch between internal representations in working memory.
To examine whether this association is influenced by the personal relevance of negative stimuli.

Main Methods:

The internal shift task (IST) was employed to assess cognitive control related to switching representations.
Participants were undergraduate students categorized as high-ruminators/low-ruminators and high-worriers/low-worriers.
Negative stimuli used in the IST were tailored to reflect personally relevant worry themes.

Main Results:

Individuals classified as high-ruminators and high-worriers demonstrated significant difficulties in switching between internal representations in working memory compared to low-ruminators and low-worriers.
This impairment in cognitive control was particularly pronounced when participants processed negative stimuli that were personally relevant to their own worry themes.
The findings suggest a specific deficit in cognitive control for personally relevant negative verbal information.

Conclusions:

Rumination and worrying are associated with reduced cognitive control over internal representations.
Cognitive control deficits, particularly for personally relevant negative information, may contribute to the persistence of negative thought in mood and anxiety disorders.
These findings highlight the importance of considering cognitive control mechanisms in understanding and treating persistent negative thought patterns.