Selective processing of negative information: effects of clinical anxiety, concurrent depression, and awareness

Abstract

Anxious patients (n = 20) and normal controls (n = 20) carried out a modified Stroop color-naming task with anxiety- and depression-related words in supraliminal and subliminal exposure conditions. Within the anxious group, patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) without concurrent depression (n = 11) showed more color-naming interference for anxiety words than neutral words in comparison with patients with a combined diagnosis of GAD and depression (n = 9). Compared with controls, the GAD subgroup without concurrent depression showed slower color naming for negative than neutral words, in both supraliminal and subliminal conditions, replicating K. Mogg, B. P. Bradley, R. Williams, and A. Mathews's (1993) results. These findings provide further evidence of an anxiety-related bias for negative information in preconscious processes and highlight the importance of assessing concurrent depression.