Mood-induced changes on the implicit association test in recovered depressed patients

A mood induction paradigm was used to examine dysphoria-related changes in two type of cognitive processing in individuals who had previously experien ced depression. Formerly depressed patients (n = 23) and never-depressed co ntrols (n = 27) completed the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, a self-report measure of effortful processing, and performed the Implicit Association Tes t, an automatic-reaction time task that measures evaluative bias, before an d after a negative-mood induction. The formerly depressed group showed both an increase in endorsement of dysfunctional attitudes and a more negative evaluative bias for self-relevant information after the induction, relative to controls - however, there was no association between the mood-linked ch anges observed on these two measures. The shift in evaluative bias shown by the formerly depressed group was similar to that seen in a group of 32 cur rently depressed individuals. These findings suggest that even a mild negat ive mood in formerly depressed individuals can reinstate some of the cognit ive features observed in depression itself.