SUBLIMINAL PROCESSING OF EMOTIONAL INFORMATION IN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

The study investigated selective processing of emotional information i n anxiety and depression. using a modified Stroop color naming task. A nxious (n = 19), depressed (n = 18), and normal control (n = 18) subje cts were required to name the background colors of anxiety-related, de pression-related, positive, categorized, and uncategorized neutral wor ds. Half of the words were presented supraliminally, half subliminally . Anxious subjects, compared with depressed and normal subjects, showe d relatively slower color naming for both supraliminal and subliminal negative words. The results suggest a preattentive processing bias for negative information in anxiety