Attention Processing in Depressed Mood: Testing Defocused Attention Hypothesis

Depressed mood effects attention and its span. The present study aimed to compare the allocation of attention to relevant and irrelevant neutral stimuli in depressed and non-depressed participants. The studied populations include all the students from Azad university of Ahwaz and the undergraduate psychology students from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman. After completion of Beck Depression Inventory by participants, in two sessions with a minimum of 2 weeks interval and using structured clinical diagnostic interview, 52 participants were allocated in the non-depressed group and 41 to the depressed group.The focused attention of participants was measured by recognition of the Wechsler cube designs (focal task) and the defocused attention measured by recognition task of the irrelevant stimuli on the table. Mixed variance analysis of scores indicated that in allocating attention to relevant stimuli, there was no significant difference between two groups. However, attention to irrelevant stimuli for the depressed group was significantly greater than the non-depressed group. The results have been explained in line with the evolutionary framework of depression.