Remembering the blues

Negative emotion during encoding improve memory recall in major depressive Disorder

Bibliographic Data

ID7725822
AuthorsSapir Miron (0009-0006-6118-3850, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author), Eyal Kalanthroff (0000-0001-9759-4666, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Year2025
Volume39
Issue5
Pages1158-1165
Publication date2025-07-04
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCognition & Emotion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-9931 • E-ISSN: 1464-0600
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02699931.2024.2427331
PMID39540629
OpenAlexW4404378769
LanguageEN
References cited19

Substantial research indicates that individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) remember more negative information compared to neutral and positive information. This phenomenon is commonly attributed to attentional biases toward negative over neutral and positive information. A recent attentional resources model suggests that in MDD, negative cues not only capture attention, but also lead to deeper processing of subsequent information, irrespective of its content. This study aimed to replicate findings supporting this attentional resources model and go beyond it by investigating the effect of negative cues on encoding and retrieval processes. Forty-one participants with MDD and no comorbid diagnoses, and 42 healthy-controls completed the emotional recall task with negative or positive videos presented during encoding and retrieval stages of a neutral word-list memory test. During encoding, only the MDD group exhibited a difference between negative and positive videos, such that for negative videos memory recall was improved and for positive words it was reduced. Emotional videos had no effect when presented during retrieval. These results suggest that in MDD, encountering emotional cues not only biases retrieval processes toward recalling more negative content, but rather fundamentally alters the depth of information processing, while not leading to a broad-spectrum recruitment of cognitive resources

Autobiographical memory · Blues · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Episodic memory · Major depressive disorder · Psychiatry · Recall · Identity, Memory, and Therapy · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Memory Processes and Influences · Psychology

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