The Prevalence of the Negativity Bias on Associative Learning in Major Depressive Disorder
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1
University of Wollongong, Australia
The Negativity Bias is the distinctive tendency to perceive and learn all stimuli negatively, and is considered an important aspect in the aetiology of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). It is hypothesised that due to this bias, learning occurs differently for depressed individuals, in that they form more negative learning associations than positive ones. In order to investigate the extent to which learning in depression is influenced by the Negativity Bias, 40 adults completed a visual conditioning task where faces were paired with emotional stimuli to ascertain whether negative stimuli influenced learning more than positive or neutral stimuli. Depressed participants exhibited evidence of learning, however it was potentially in response to the arousal elicited by the stimuli, as opposed to stimulus valence. These findings have important implications for depression’s pathophysiology, which in turn may influence how the disorder is treated in the future.
Keywords:
Major Depressive Disorder,
Negativity bias,
Classical Conditioning,
associative learning,
Valence
Conference:
ASP2015 - 25th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Sydney, Australia, 2 Dec - 4 Dec, 2015.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Psychophysiology
Citation:
Mills
J,
Camfield
D and
Croft
R
(2015). The Prevalence of the Negativity Bias on Associative Learning in Major Depressive Disorder.
Conference Abstract:
ASP2015 - 25th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.219.00036
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Received:
23 Oct 2015;
Published Online:
30 Nov 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Miss. Jessica Mills, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia, jm290@uowmail.edu.au