Training attention improves decision making in individuals with elevated self-reported depressive symptoms

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Depression is linked to attentional biases favoring negative stimuli.
• Previous research suggests attention training can reduce depressive symptoms.
• The impact of attention training on learning processes in depression remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of attention training on reward-based learning in individuals with elevated depressive symptoms.
• To compare the performance of depressed individuals receiving active attention training with those receiving placebo training and non-depressed controls.

Main Methods:

• Participants with elevated depressive symptoms underwent either active attention training (focusing on positive stimuli) or placebo training.
• A control group with low depressive symptoms also participated.
• All groups performed a reward maximization decision-making task, analyzed using computational modeling.

Main Results:

• Depressed individuals receiving placebo training performed worse and switched choices more often than controls.
• Active attention training normalized performance in depressed individuals, matching the control group.
• Computational modeling revealed placebo-trained depressives learned more from negative prediction errors, unlike controls and actively trained depressives.

Conclusions:

• Elevated depressive symptoms impair reward maximization and decision-making.
• Attention training directed toward positive stimuli can ameliorate these deficits.
• This suggests a potential therapeutic avenue for improving learning and decision-making in depression.