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. 2020 Sep 11:11:544999.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.544999. eCollection 2020.

Mind-Wandering Changes in Dysphoria

Alice Guesdon  1 , François-Xavier Lejeune  1 , Jean-Yves Rotgé  1   2 , Nathalie George  1 , Philippe Fossati  1   2
Affiliations

Mind-Wandering Changes in Dysphoria

Alice Guesdon et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Changes in mind-wandering (MW) and involuntary autobiographical memory (IAM) in dysphoria have been explored with conflicting results. The aim of this study was to evaluate both MW and IAM in a group of 23 stable dysphoric participants compared to 37 controls and to compare their thoughts characteristics (i.e., specificity, visual perspective, time orientation, and emotional valence). To make this study comparable with previous research, we used two different monotonous vigilance tasks (with and without verbal interference stimuli). Our results showed a significantly greater focus on MW thoughts in dysphoria. The characteristics of spontaneous thoughts content did not differ significantly between our dysphoric participants and controls, which is not in favor of strong emotional dysfunction. Our results suggest a difficulty to regulate the occurrence of self-generated thoughts rather than their content, that may confer to dysphoric subjects increased cognitive risk to develop a major depressive episode.

Keywords: cognition; depression; dysphoria; mind-wandering; mood.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Dysphoric vs. non-dysphoric: Proportions of OT/TO/ZO.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Commentary: Mind-Wandering Changes in Dysphoria.
    Fell J, Chaieb L. Fell J, et al. Front Psychiatry. 2021 Jul 14;12:722819. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.722819. eCollection 2021. Front Psychiatry. 2021. PMID: 34335342 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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