| dc.description.abstract | Abstract Background. Clinical depression is defined in part by a dysfunction in the temporal dynamics of affect, which often entails the sustainment of negative mood states and attenuated experiences of positive emotion. Investigators have identified several negatively-biased cognitive processes that appear central to depressive affect dysregulation, including the aberrant function of attention, memory, and reward systems – particularly as they pertain to the direct interpretation of external stimuli and life events. More recent work has begun to elucidate connections between depressive symptomatology and mind wandering (i.e., thought content that is internally generated and unrelated to any immediate contextual stimuli), as several studies have reported robust positive associations between the frequency of mind wandering and the presence of depressive symptoms. However, it remains unclear the degree to which: (a) increased depressive symptomatology is predictive of mind wandering frequency (and content) across different emotional contexts (i.e., the experience of negative, positive, or neutral affect); or (b) the effect of depressive symptomatology on affective dynamics is moderated by the specific contents of mind wandering. Overall, the primary aim of the current investigation was to help elucidate the conjoint effects of mind wandering and depressive symptomatology on the temporal dynamics of affect. Method. A stratified sampling technique was used to sample individuals (N = 173) with minimal-to-elevated levels of self-reported depressive symptomatology. Following a questionnaire to measure current depressive symptoms at the time of the study, participants completed a computer task designed to be low in cognitive demand (i.e., to elicit mind wandering), with intermittent thought probes inserted at regular intervals to assess for the frequency and content of mind wandering. Each trial of the task began with the presentation of an emotionally-charged (i.e., positively-valent, negatively-valent) or neutral-image stimulus followed by several iterations of the low-demand task. Participants reported on their current affective state at two time-points per trial: (a) immediately following stimulus presentation, and (b) approximately 45 seconds later, at the end of each trial. Multilevel modeling for repeated measures was utilized to examine the resulting interrelationships between reported depressive symptomatology, mind wandering, and dynamic affective responses, with an emphasis on affective decay in the brief temporal window following presentation of the emotionally-salient images. Results. In a replication of previous research, increased levels of depressive symptomatology were associated with significantly greater mind wandering frequency across the task. Additionally, it was found that participants mind wandered more frequently following the display of both positively- and negatively-charged images, compared to neutral-image controls, but this effect did not interact with the level of depressive symptoms. Nevertheless, experimental condition was a significant moderator in the relationship between depressive symptoms and the content of off-task thinking that occurred: generally, negative stimulus presentation strengthened the depressive relationship with negative-content mind wandering and perseveration on the negative stimulus, whereas positive stimulus presentation weakened the relationship between depressive symptoms and positive-content mind wandering. In the prediction of affect decay over time following stimulus presentation, increased levels of depressive symptomatology were associated with significantly greater negative affect sustainment following the presentation of negative stimuli. Critically, this relationship was significantly moderated by mind wandering frequency, which strengthened the depressive effect. Alternatively, negative-content mind wandering and negative image perseveration were found to have significant main effects in promoting negative affect sustainment across participants, but did not have significant interactions with level of depressive symptoms. Mind wandering frequency was not a significant moderator of the relationship between increased depressive symptomatology and stronger decay of positive affect following positive stimulus presentation. Instead, perseveration on the positive-stimulus was more helpful, and negative-content mind wandering was more harmful, in terms of the decay of positive affect over time for those with elevated depressive symptoms. Conclusion. The results of this investigation provide preliminary evidence of processes by which mind wandering may impact affective dynamics, and particularly those that characterize the experience of elevated depressive symptomatology. Mind wandering in and of itself, regardless of its content, interacted with depressive symptoms to reduce the decay of negative emotion following exposure to a negative stimulus. Alternatively, following exposure to positively valent stimuli, it was mind-wandering of negative content that most directly contributed to depressive positive affect decay. Future replication of these results among clinical samples – particularly those with and without a diagnosis of major depressive disorder – would be a welcome extension of the present findings, as would the investigation of mind wandering and associated affective dynamics in more ecologically valid (non-experimental) real-world contexts. | |
