The Cognitive Bias Task (CBT) in healthy controls: A replication study

Contextual processing is the selection and bringing "on-line" of internal r epresentations of a task that can be used in planning and mediating goal-ap propriate behavioral responses and is a relevant issue that probably is inv olved in many neurological and psychiatric conditions. The Cognitive Bias T ask is a measure of context-dependent responding; is sensitive to quadrant- lesion effects, and interacts with gender. The goal of this study was to re plicate and detail more completely the method of context-dependent processi ng for healthy control patients on the Cognitive Bias Task. The results sho w the presence of three different cognitive patterns that could biases the response of control patients: context-independent context-dependent, and mi xed. Gender, but not handedness, significantly influences contextual proces sing, with more females than males producing a context-independent pattern of responding. Test results and the relation of contextual processing in ps ychiatric disorders were discussed.