| A review of the literature on depressive cognition found contemporary approaches to be conceptually and methodologically limited. Research derived from the models proposed by Beck (1967) and Seligman (1975a) was criticized for its exclusive attention to the final stages of the information-processing sequence and pervasive reliance upon the study of mildly depressed nonclinical subjects.;In response to these issues the present study applied signal detection theory and procedures to an understanding of clinical and nonclinical depressive conditions. In the first of two experiments three groups of VA inpatients (depressed psychiatric; nondepressed psychiatric control, and nondepressed medical control subjects) were compared on measures of memoric sensitivity (A') and response bias (B'') derived from performance on a signal detection recognition memory task. Consistent with prediction, depressed subjects demonstrated heightened levels of judgmental conservatism relative to nondepressed medical control subjects, in the absence of any differences in memoric sensitivity. (Although in the predicted direction, the comparison between depressed and nondepressed psychiatric control subjects on the B'' measure failed to achieve significance, indicating that the reported criterion effect may not be unique to depressive disorders. Recent investigations of "state-trait" issues in depression were cited, however, and suggested that the failure to document a significant difference between these two groups may relate to subject selection/diagnostic factors.).;The results of Experiment I were discussed from the perspective of Kahneman's (1973) information-processing model, and were offered as support for the contemporary position that apparent cognitive deficits in depression may relate more specifically to motivational/bias variables (perceptual or response "readiness") than to issues of capacity or adequacy. Contrary to the hypotheses of contemporary models, however, the current findings suggested that depressive bias/distortion may reside not in the (unrealistic) expectation of failure, but in the heightened motivation to avoid its occurrence.;The second of the present experiments presented groups of depressed and nondepressed undergraduate subjects with identical signal detection task demands. The reported failure to replicate the findings of Experiment I within this sample was offered as tentative evidence against the "quantitative assumption" of depressive psychopathology, although the possibility that task-situation factors may have obscured actual motivational differences between the undergraduate groups was not ruled out. |
