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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 30, 2026

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

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

Published on: May 19, 2015

Depressive thoughts limit working memory capacity in dysphoria.

Nicholas A Hubbard¹, Joanna L Hutchison^1,2, Monroe Turner¹

¹a School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences , University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson , TX , USA.

Cognition & Emotion

|January 7, 2015

Summary

Dysphoric individuals experience reduced working memory (WM) capacity when exposed to depressive thoughts. This attention bias towards negative information impairs cognitive function, explaining concentration difficulties in depressed mood.

Keywords:

Attention Depressed mood Memory deficits Processing speed Working memory capacity

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Dysphoria is linked to sustained attention on mood-congruent information.
This attentional bias may impede processing of goal-relevant information, potentially reducing working memory (WM) capacity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of dysphoria on working memory (WM) capacity.
To determine if the presence of depressive information specifically reduces WM capacity in dysphoric individuals (DIs).

Main Methods:

Three studies were conducted, including a control group (non-DIs) and dysphoric individuals (DIs).
Study 2 embedded depressive information into a WM task.
Study 3 examined the relationship between processing speed and recall in a modified WM task.

Main Results:

DIs and non-DIs showed similar WM capacities in a standard task (Study 1).
DIs exhibited significantly reduced WM capacity for goal-relevant information when depressive information was present (Study 2).
DIs showed a greater association between processing speed and recall on the modified WM task compared to non-DIs (Study 3).

Conclusions:

The presence of depressive information significantly decreases WM capacity in dysphoric individuals.
WM capacity deficits in the presence of depressive thoughts offer a mechanism for memory and concentration issues in depressed mood.