Who exhibits cognitive biases? Mapping heterogeneity in attention, interpretation, and rumination in depression

Although depression is heterogeneous in symptoms, few studies have asked whether cognitive features central to its etiology show similar heterogeneity. We addressed this question in a treatment-seeking sample of adults with at least moderate depression (N = 232) by assessing three biases: (a) attentional dwell time on sad stimuli, (b) negative interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, and (c) brooding rumination. The k-means clustering revealed distinct subgroups for each cognitive feature when considered separately. Latent profile analysis combining the three indicators identified two clear profiles: a "high-bias" group (38%) with above-average scores on all three measures-especially interpretation bias-and a "low-bias" group (62%) with below-average scores. Elastic-net regression showed membership in the high-bias profile was associated with greater anhedonia, feelings of inadequacy, generalized anxiety, lower educational attainment, and unemployment. These findings demonstrate that negative cognitive biases are not uniformly present among depressed individuals, highlighting the value of tailoring interventions to bias-defined subgroups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).