| According to cognitive theories of depression, information processing biases contribute to the development and maintenance of depression in both adults and children (for reviews see, Jacobs, Reinecke, Gollan, & Kane, 2008; Mathews & MacLeod, 2005). Although there is growing evidence to support the presence of attentional biases in depression, there are several key limitations to the existing literature. The current study sought to address the limitations of previous research by providing a more precise quantification of attention biases in children with depressive disorders. This was accomplished by combining measures of eye-tracking and the more traditional response time data within three distinct tasks designed to measure different components of attention. Results from this study revealed a significant group difference in attentional allocation moderated by gender. Specifically, currently depressed girls were more likely than all boys or never depressed girls to demonstrate longer average fixations for happy faces as compared to sad or angry faces. Among depressed girls, this provides evidence for a pattern of preferential attention for positively valenced emotions or avoidance of negatively valenced emotions. |
