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Impaired attention in depressive states: a non-specific deficit?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

J-P. Mialet ,
H. G. Pope  and
D. Yurgelun-Todd
J-P. Mialet*
Affiliation:
61, Boulevard des Invalides, Paris, France; the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
H. G. Pope
Affiliation:
61, Boulevard des Invalides, Paris, France; the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
D. Yurgelun-Todd
Affiliation:
61, Boulevard des Invalides, Paris, France; the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Jean-Paul Mialet 61 Boulevard des Invalides75007 ParisFrance.
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Synopsis

Although cognitive research on attention has advanced significantly in recent years, these advances have produced few specific hypotheses regarding the attentional impairment seen in depression, and few experiments designed to test them. We review the limited neuropsychological literature on impaired attention in depressive states, with emphasis on areas where the findings of modern cognitive research might be applied in the future to design more sophisticated tests of attentional impairment. At present, it is not possible to determine whether the attentional deficits seen in depression are specific to this disorder, or whether they represent a final common pathway of impaired cognition seen in many different mental and organic deficit states, such as schizophrenia and dementias.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 26 , Issue 5 , September 1996 , pp. 1009 - 1020
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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