Reduced Belief Updating in the Context of Depressive Symptoms: An Investigation of the Associations with Interpretation Biases and Self-Evaluation

Abstract

Background Depressive symptoms are associated with negative expectations and reduced belief updating by positive information. Cognitive immunization, the devaluation of positive information, has been argued to be central in this relationship and predictive processing models suggest that more positive information is associated with greater cognitive immunization. Methods In an online experiment, N = 347 healthy participants took part in a performance task with standardized feedback of varying levels of positivity (mild, moderate, extreme). Effects of feedback positivity on cognitive immunization were investigated. Further, depressive symptoms, interpretation bias and participant’s self-evaluation were examined as potential correlates of belief updating. Results As expected, participants receiving mildly positive feedback reported a greater amount of cognitive immunization than those receiving moderately positive feedback. However, neither group differed from those receiving extremely positive feedback. Although depressive symptoms did not show the hypothesized association with cognitive immunization, they were associated with a weaker increase in positive expectations following feedback. Exploratory analyses showed associations between self-evaluation and belief updating. Conclusions The results suggest that healthy participants engaged in cognitive immunization when feedback was less positive than expected. Depressive symptoms were associated with reduced belief updating, but not with cognitive immunization. Self-evaluation may be a promising factor for future research.

Modulating the value of positive feedback does not influence expectation change in major depression – What can be learned from a failed replication?

“…Beyond that, it could be argued that labelling the test as invalid makes the feedback less relevant for the self-concept and -as a paradoxical consequence -easier to integrate. This would also t in with the nding that shows that feedback that is too positive is less integrable Würtz et al, 2024). Nevertheless, this explanation is unlikely to account for the failed replication, as otherwise labelling the test as invalid would also have to lead to a higher integration of the feedback.…”

“…To our knowledge, only one recent study looked into the relationship between cognitive immunization and another well-known cognitive bias, that is, interpretation bias. In that study using a healthy student sample (partly with elevated depressive symptoms), there was no correlation between cognitive immunization and interpretation bias (Würtz et al, 2024).…”

“…In terms of the feedback that was used in the present study, these ndings could very well be relevant. As they show that moderately positive feedback ("you are among the best 15%") leads to the strongest change in expectations and the lowest degree of cognitive immunization Würtz et al, 2024). Thus, more extreme positive feedback ("you are among the best 1%") could be more suitable to modulate cognitive immunization.…”

Understanding Social Media Information Sharing in Individuals with Depression: Insights from the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Schema Activation Theory

“…This tendency is a critical element of the cognitive vulnerability characteristic of depression, encompassing selective attention, memory bias, and interpretive bias. [82][83][84] For instance, individuals with depression may neglect or minimally engage with positive or neutral information, and once they fixate on negative information, disengaging becomes challenging. Therefore, this study posits that DL moderates the direct relationship between negative CV and IS.…”