[1] Does retrieving episodic information influence the updating of emotional context?

Background

The task we have our participants complete intends to tap into the cognitive function of mental navigation which seems to be negatively impacted by depression. Our study looks to investigate whether we can observe this effect with our task using trial types that vary by their emotional valence: positive, negative, and neutral trials. Depressed individuals should perform relatively better on negative trials than positive trials compared to less depressed individuals. We also seek to establish convergent validity of our task with a related task.

Research Questions / Hypotheses

Research Question: Do depressive symptoms affect insight of emotionally-valanced information?

Hypotheses:

  1. Fluency and flexibility subscores of the Alternative Uses Task are expected to positively correlate with performance on our Emotionally-valanced Remote Associates (ERA) task.
  2. Depression scores are expected to be positively correlated with performance on the ERA task for negatively-valanced trials.
  3. Depression scores are expected to be negatively correlated with performance on the ERA task for positively-valanced trials.

Participants

335 participants completed the study. Age exclusion, only 18 years+ allowed. As this is a REP1 study only those in the relevant first year psychology courses are eligible. An identical REP2 version was simultaneously run as well.

Methods

Participants receive a qualtrics link to complete a survey that takes approximately 75 minutes. Firstly, participants provide some basic demographic information then they are given instructions and 2 practice tests for our Emotionally-valanced Remote Associates (ERA) task. After this they are required to complete all 120 trials of this task. Following the ERA task participants then complete the Alternative Uses Task (our convergent validity measure) for which they are given instructions - this takes about 5 minutes. Finally, participants complete a depression questionnaire, the BDI-II.

Results

  1. Multiple regression analysis to assess convergent validity (we expect a positive correlation between fluency and flexibility subscores on the Alternative Uses Task with performance on our ERA task).
  2. Linear mixed effects model to assess whether depression scores influence performance on the ERA task as a function of the emotional valence of trials (we expect higher depression scores to be associated with relatively better performance on the negative trials versus positive trials, and vice versa).

Implications

Implications: In respect to theory and research, the current study has the potential to establish good preliminary evidence for a behavioural task in indexing mental navigation. The significance of this is perhaps best understood in the context of recent research by Aru and colleagues (2023) who posit a contemporary framework of mental navigation and insight with testable hypotheses of underlying neural activity. If our task is capable of eliciting insight then it offers future research the opportunity to examine its underlying neural activity using imaging techniques. A more objective marker of insight is critical in order to draw strong conclusions about genuine psychological change observed in research. In a clinical context, our research could help inform clinicians in two regards.

Firstly, assuming we observe significant effects, it may be of utility to have clients complete the task at different time points in treatment to track progress. Performance can be compared to clinical norms and used to track improvements in emotionally-valanced insight over time, as a proxy for mental health function in conditions like depression. Secondly, this could potentially be used as an assessment tool to develop a more in-depth formulation of a patient’s presentation. An argument could be made that those who score poorly on the ERA task could respond better to mindfulness-based treatments as one of the hypothesised mechanisms of change in this therapy involves enhancing mental navigation through the cultivation of trait mindfulness. To note, these implications would apply assuming further research has been conducted on clinical populations to establish norms and more evidence has been generated to validate the task – the current research provides preliminary evidence and as such clinical implications are limited. Planned Communication of Results: Part of a PhD project and planned to be published in a journal.