Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T02:22:49.634Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Inhibitory Control in Individuals with Clinical Levels of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2021

María B. García-Martín Open the ORCID record for María B. García-Martín [Opens in a new window] ,
Francisco J. Ruiz Open the ORCID record for Francisco J. Ruiz [Opens in a new window] ,
Luna Bedoya-Valderrama ,
Miguel A. Segura-Vargas ,
Andrés Peña-Vargas ,
Jorge E. Ávila-Campos ,
Juan F. Gómez-Bermúdez  and
Vanessa Calle-Arciniegas
María B. García-Martín
Affiliation:
Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (Colombia)
Francisco J. Ruiz
Affiliation:
Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (Colombia)
Luna Bedoya-Valderrama
Affiliation:
Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (Colombia)
Miguel A. Segura-Vargas
Affiliation:
Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (Colombia)
Andrés Peña-Vargas
Affiliation:
Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (Colombia)
Jorge E. Ávila-Campos
Affiliation:
Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (Colombia)
Juan F. Gómez-Bermúdez
Affiliation:
Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (Colombia)
Vanessa Calle-Arciniegas
Affiliation:
Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (Colombia)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous research has shown that individuals suffering from depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) seem to have inhibitory control deficits compared with healthy controls. However, few studies have been conducted in Spanish-speaking countries. Thus, this study aims to analyze the performance on the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT) between groups of Colombian participants with clinical levels of depression and GAD symptoms and a nonclinical control group. According to previous research, we expected to find significant differences in inhibitory control among groups. An ex post facto design was implemented. The SCWT was administered to a total sample of 105 individuals (64.8% women, M = 22.94 years, SD = 4.62), including 27 depressed and 15 anxious participants according to their scores on the Personal Health Questionnaire–9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7, respectively. Bayesian t-tests showed that depressed participants showed the same processing speed but lower scores on inhibitory control than healthy controls, BF = 13.70, δ = 0.50, 95% CI [0.08, 0.94]. Conversely, anxious participants showed deficits in processing speed, SCWT-Word: BF = 16.19, δ = 0.68, 95% CI [0.15, 1.24]; SCWT-Color: BF = 5.98, δ = 0.50, 95% CI [–0.01, 1.04], but not in inhibitory control compared with the nonanxious counterparts. This study provides preliminary evidence concerning the inhibitory control deficits in Colombian depressed individuals and processing speed deficits in those experiencing clinical levels of GAD symptoms.

Keywords

Depressiongeneralized anxiety disorderinhibitory controlStroop test
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 24 , 2021 , e19
Copyright
© Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Conflicts of Interest: None

Funding Statement: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

References

Afonso, A. S. Jr., Machado, A. V., Carreiro, L. R. R., & Machado-Pinheiro, W. (2020). Interaction between inhibitory mechanisms involved in Stroop-matching and stop-signal tasks, and their association with impulsivity levels. Psychology & Neuroscience, 13, 326–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aker, M., Bø, R., Harmer, C., Stiles, T. C., & Landrø, N. I. (2016). Inhibition and response to error in remitted major depression. Psychiatry Research, 235, 116–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.11.038CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alansari, B., & Baroun, K. (2004). Gender and cultural performance differences on the Stroop color and word test: A comparative study. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 32, 235–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, M. C., & Weaver, C. (2009). Inhibitory control over action and memory. In Squire, L. R. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of neuroscience (pp. 153–163). Academic Press. http://doi.org/10.1016/B978-008045046-9.00421-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armengol, C. G. (2002). Stroop test in Spanish: Children’s norms. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 16, 67–80. https://doi.org/10.1076/clin.16.1.67.8337CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571. http://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1961.01710120031004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, E. S., Rinck, M., Margraf, J., & Roth, W. T. (2001). The emotional Stroop effect in anxiety disorders: General emotionality or disorder specificity? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 15, 147–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(01)00055-XCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buré-Reyes, A., Hidalgo-Ruzzante, N., Vilar-López, R., Gontier, J., Sánchez, L., Pérez-García, M., & Puente, A. E. (2013). Neuropsychological test performance of Spanish speakers: Is performance different across different Spanish-speaking subgroups? Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 35, 404–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803395.2013.778232CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, J., Wang, Z., Wu, Y., Cai, Y., Shen, Y., Wang, L., & Shi, S. (2013). Differential attentional bias in generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 9, 73–80. https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S36822CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Raedt, R., & Koster, E. H. W. (2010). Understanding vulnerability for depression from a cognitive neuroscience perspective: A reappraisal of attentional factors and a new conceptual framework. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 10, 50–70. https://doi.org/10.3758/CABN.10.1.50CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dienes, Z. (2014). Using Bayes to get the most out of non-significant results. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 781. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00781CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dienes, Z., & Mclatchie, N. (2018). Four reasons to prefer Bayesian analyses over significance testing. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review , 25, 207–218. http://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1266-zCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Disner, S. G., Beevers, C. G., Haigh, E. A. P., & Beck, A. T. (2011). Neural mechanisms of the cognitive model of depression. Nature Reviews Neuroscience , 12, 467–477. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3027CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion , 7, 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.336CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fontana, S. A., Raimondi, W., Schmidt, C. D., & González, P. K. (2016). Flexibilidad cognitiva y control inhibitorio en pacientes con cardiopatía isquémica [Cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control in patients with cardiac ischemic]. Revista de Psicología de la Salud , 4, 60–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fossati, P., Ergis, A. M., & Allilaire, J. F. (2002). Neuropsychologie des troubles des fonctions exécutives dans la dépression: Une revue de la littérature [Executive functioning in unipolar depression: A review]. Encephale , 28, 97–107.Google Scholar
García-Campayo, J., Zamorano, E., Ruiz, M. A., Pardo, A., Pérez-Paramo, M., López-Gómez, V., Freire, O., & Rejas, J. (2010). Cultural adaptation into Spanish of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 (GAD–7) scale as a screening tool. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes , 8, Article 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-8-8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golden, C. J. (2007). Stroop test de colores y palabras, manual (5 Ed.) [Stroop test of colors and words, manual]. TEA Ediciones.Google Scholar
Gotlib, I. H., & Joormann, J. (2010). Cognition and depression: Current status and future directions. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology , 6, 285–312. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131305CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gronau, Q. F., Ly, A., & Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2019). Informed Bayesian t-tests. The American Statistician , 74 , 137–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2018.1562983CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunel, E., & Dickey, J. (1974). Bayes factors for independence in contingency tables. Biometrika , 61, 545–557. https://doi.org/10.2307/2334738CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallion, L. S., Tolin, D. F., Assaf, M., Goethe, J., & Diefenbach, G. J. (2017). Cognitive control in generalized anxiety disorder: Relation of inhibition impairments to worry and anxiety severity. Cognitive Therapy and Research , 41, 610–618. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-017-9832-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harlé, K. M., Shenoy, P., & Paulus, M. P. (2013). The influence of emotions on cognitive control: Feelings and beliefs—where do they meet? Frontiers in Human Neuroscience , 7, Article 508. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00508CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirsch, C. R., & Mathews, A. (2012). A cognitive model of pathological worry. Behaviour Research and Therapy , 50, 636–646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2012.06.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holler, K., Kavanaugh, B., & Cook, N. E. (2014). Executive functioning in adolescent depressive disorders. Journal of Child and Family Studies , 23, 1315–1324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9789-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishii, K., Reyes, J. A., & Kitayama, S. (2003). Spontaneous attention to word content versus emotional tone: Differences among three cultures. Psychological Science , 14, 39–46. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.01416CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
JASP Team. (2020). JASP (Version 0.12.2) [Computer software]. JASP.Google Scholar
Javed, S., Hanif, R., & Siddique, S. K. (2019). Trends of executive dysfunctioning among depressive and non-Depressive older adults. Rawal Medical Journal , 44, 560–564.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, H. (1961). Theory of probability. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Joormann, J., & D’Avanzato, C. (2010). Emotion regulation in depression: Examining the role of cognitive processes. Cognition & Emotion Lecture at the 2009 ISRE Meeting. Cognition and Emotion , 24, 913–939. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931003784939Google Scholar
Joormann, J., & Vanderlind, W. M. (2014). Emotion regulation in depression: The role of biased cognition and reduced cognitive control. Clinical Psychological Science , 2, 402–421. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702614536163CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennepohl, S., Shore, D., Nabors, N., & Hanks, R. (2004). African American acculturation and neuropsychological test performance following traumatic brain injury. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , 10, 566–577. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617704104128CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koster, E. H. W., De Lissnyder, E., Derakshan, N., & De Raedt, R. (2011). Understanding depressive rumination from a cognitive science perspective: The impaired disengagement hypothesis. Clinical Psychology Review , 31, 138–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.08.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroenke, K., & Spitzer, R. L. (2002). The PHQ–9: A new depression diagnostic and severity measure. Psychiatric Annals , 32, 509–515. https://doi.org/10.3928/0048-5713-20020901-06CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, P. M. (2004). Bayesian statistics: An introduction (3rd Ed.). Wiley.Google Scholar
Li, J. B., Vazsonyi, A. T., & Dou, K. (2018). Is individualism-collectivism associated with self-control? Evidence from Chinese and US samples. PLOS ONE , 13, Article e0208541. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208541CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llorente, A. M. (2008). Hispanic populations: Special issues in neuropsychology. In Llorente, A. M. (Ed.), Principles of neuropsychological assessment with Hispanics (pp. 47–56). Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71758-6_3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manglani, H. R., Samimy, S., Schirda, B., Nicholas, J. A., & Prakash, R. S. (2020). Effects of 4-week mindfulness training versus adaptive cognitive training on processing speed and working memory in multiple sclerosis. Neuropsychology , 34, 591–604. https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000633CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manly, J. J., Jacobs, D. M., Touradji, P., Small, S. A., & Stern, Y. (2002). Reading level attenuates differences in neuropsychological test performance between African American and White elders. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , 8, 341–348. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617702813157CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (2005). Attentional bias in generalized anxiety disorder versus depressive disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29, 29–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-005-1646-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peckham, A. D., McHugh, R. K., & Otto, M. W. (2010). A meta-analysis of the magnitude of biased attention in depression. Depression and Anxiety , 27, 1135–1142. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20755CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, R. B., & Mohlman, J. (2007). Inhibitory control and symptom severity in late life generalized anxiety disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy , 45 , 2628–2639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2007.06.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rodríguez, E., Ruiz, J. C., Valdés, C., Reinel, M., Díaz, M., Flores, J., Crempien, C., Leighton, C., Botto, A., Martínez, C., & Tomicic, A. (2017). Estilos de personalidad dependiente y autocrítico: Desempeño cognitivo y sintomatología depresiva [Dependent and self-critical personality styles: Cognitive performance and depressive symptomatology]. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología , 49, 102–109. http://doi.org/10.1016/j-rlp.2016.09.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodríguez-Barreto, L. C., Pulido, N. d. C., & Pineda-Roa, C. A. (2016). Propiedades psicométricas del Stroop, test de colores y palabras en población colombiana no patológica [Psychometric properties of the Stroop Color-Word Test in non-pathological Colombian population]. Universitas Psychologica , 15, 255–272. http://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.upsy15-2.ppstCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rouder, J. N., Speckman, P. L., Sun, D., Morey, R. D., & Iverson, G. (2009). Bayesian t-tests for accepting and rejecting the null hypothesis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 225–237. http://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.16.2.225CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sarosi, A., Gonda, X., Balogh, G., Szekely, A., Sasvari, M., & Faludi, G. (2008). Gender differences in the neurocognitive components of depression. Official Journal of the Hungarian Association of Psychopharmacology , 10, 191–199.Google ScholarPubMed
Schroder, E., Dubuson, M., Dousset, C., Mortier, E., Kornreich, C., & Campanella, S. (2020). Training inhibitory control induced robust neural changes when behavior is affected: A follow-up study using cognitive event-related potentials. Clinical EEG and Neuroscience , 51, 303–316. https://doi.org/10.1177/1550059419895146CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snyder, H. R. (2013). Major depressive disorder is associated with broad impairments on neuropsychological measures of executive function: A meta-analysis and review. Psychological Bulletin , 139, 81–132. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028727CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R., Kroenke, K., & Williams, J. B. W. (1999). Validation and utility of a self-report version of PRIME-MD. Journal of American Medical Association , 282, 1737–1744. http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.282.18.1737CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B. W., & Löwe, B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder. Archives of Internal Medicine , 166, 1092–1097. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology , 18, 643–662. http://doi.org/10.1037/h0054651CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taghavi, M. R., Dalgleish, T., Moradi, A. R., Neshat-Doost, H. T., & Yule, W. (2003). Selective processing of negative emotional information in children and adolescents with generalized anxiety disorder. British Journal of Clinical Psychology , 42, 221–230. https://doi.org/10.1348/01446650360703348CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wagenmakers, E.-J., Love, J., Marsman, M., Jamil, T., Ly, A., Verhagen, J., Selker, R., Gronau, Q. F., Dropman, D., Boutin, B., Meerhoff, F., Knight, P., Raj, A., van Kesteren, E.-J., van Doorn, J., Šmíra, M., Epskamp, S., Etz, A., Matzke, D., de Jong, T., … Morey, R. D. (2018). Bayesian statistical inference for psychological science. Part II: Example applications with JASP. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review , 25, 58–76. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1323-7CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, J. M. G., Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1996). The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology . Psychological Bulletin , 120, 3–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed