AROUSAL AND SELECTIVE INTENTION AND ATTENTION TO STIMULI PRESENTED TOTHE LEFT AND RIGHT IN DEPRESSED AND ANXIOUS PATIENTS

To examine how attention mechanisms influence the processing of emotio ns in the cerebral hemispheres, groups of depressed (n = 8), anxious ( n = 8) and control subjects (n = 13) had to report one stimulus by a k ey press with one hand and another stimulus by another key press with the other hand in a reaction time task. Stimuli were presented to the left or the right of a central fixation point. They were preceded by n o cue or by a cue. The cues indicated either the hand for the response (intention) or the side where the stimulus was going to appear. Depre ssed subjects responded faster to stimulu presented on their left. All subjects responded faster to valid cues. These findings support the v iew that depression is associated with an arousal bias. The situation for anxiety remains equivocal.