State and Trait Influences on Inhibition in Pre-Clinical Depression

Abstract

The cognitive symptoms of depression may be the result of the interactive effects of mood state and depressive trait factors on inhibition. Both innate (trait) and environmental (state) factors are known to be involved in depression. Previous research suggests both contribute to inhibition of emotionally valenced material. However, the use of clinical (currently depressed and remitted) populations in the literature poses a substantial problem for the study of the interaction between state and trait effects on cognitive processes. Therefore, this study used a sub-clinical population. Participants were randomly selected via the online research participation system and divided into high (BDI ≥ 9, n = 27) and low (BDI ≤ 8, n = 25) depressive trait groups. In addition, a within-subjects mood induction component was used to dissociate the effects of trait and state on inhibition for valenced material. To measure inhibition for negative and positive words, participants completed the Negative Affective Priming (NAP) task. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results from a Mixed-Factor ANOVA show a significant interaction between state and trait effects. Thus, it is concluded that a reciprocal relationship between environmental and innate factors exist, resulting in depressive symptoms.