OBJECTIVE: Neuropsychological studies of bipolar disorder reveal deficits in a variety of domains, including affective processing, memory, and sustained attention. These findings are difficult to interpret due to the potential confounding effects of mood-stabilizing medications. The present study aims to compare the cognitive performance of medicated and unmedicated subjects with bipolar depression to healthy control subjects. METHOD: Unmedicated subjects with bipolar depression (UBD, n = 32), subjects with bipolar depression on therapeutic doses of lithium or valproic acid (MBD, n = 33), and healthy control subjects (HC, n = 52) performed neuropsychological tasks measuring affective processing, visual memory, and sustained attention. Performance measures were covaried with age and mood ratings, where applicable. RESULTS: With regard to affective processing, the MBD group exhibited greater response latency than the UBD and HC groups. For the same task, the MBD group made more omission errors during the happy condition than in the sad condition. On a task of sustained attention, the MBD group made more errors than the HC group. There were no significant group differences on measures of visual memory. CONCLUSIONS: Deficits in affective processing were found in the medicated group, while unmedicated subjects appear to be unaffected. In particular, the MBD group made more errors during happy conditions, indicating a potential attentional bias in subjects with bipolar depression on mood-stabilizing medications. The present study also implicates impairment in sustained attention for medicated subjects with bipolar disorder, particularly those with the type II variety.
OBJECTIVE: Neuropsychological studies of bipolar disorder reveal deficits in a variety of domains, including affective processing, memory, and sustained attention. These findings are difficult to interpret due to the potential confounding effects of mood-stabilizing medications. The present study aims to compare the cognitive performance of medicated and unmedicated subjects with bipolar depression to healthy control subjects. METHOD: Unmedicated subjects with bipolar depression (UBD, n = 32), subjects with bipolar depression on therapeutic doses of lithium or valproic acid (MBD, n = 33), and healthy control subjects (HC, n = 52) performed neuropsychological tasks measuring affective processing, visual memory, and sustained attention. Performance measures were covaried with age and mood ratings, where applicable. RESULTS: With regard to affective processing, the MBD group exhibited greater response latency than the UBD and HC groups. For the same task, the MBD group made more omission errors during the happy condition than in the sad condition. On a task of sustained attention, the MBD group made more errors than the HC group. There were no significant group differences on measures of visual memory. CONCLUSIONS: Deficits in affective processing were found in the medicated group, while unmedicated subjects appear to be unaffected. In particular, the MBD group made more errors during happy conditions, indicating a potential attentional bias in subjects with bipolar depression on mood-stabilizing medications. The present study also implicates impairment in sustained attention for medicated subjects with bipolar disorder, particularly those with the type II variety.
Authors: Lucy J Robinson; Jill M Thompson; Peter Gallagher; Utpal Goswami; Allan H Young; I Nicol Ferrier; P Brian Moore Journal: J Affect Disord Date: 2006-03-06 Impact factor: 4.839
Authors: Jordy van Enkhuizen; Mark A Geyer; Arpi Minassian; William Perry; Brook L Henry; Jared W Young Journal: Neurosci Biobehav Rev Date: 2015-08-19 Impact factor: 8.989
Authors: Fadi T Maalouf; Crystal Klein; Luke Clark; Barbara J Sahakian; Edmund J Labarbara; Amelia Versace; Stefanie Hassel; Jorge R C Almeida; Mary L Phillips Journal: Neuropsychologia Date: 2010-02-20 Impact factor: 3.139
Authors: Ute Kessler; Arne E Vaaler; Helle Schøyen; Ketil J Oedegaard; Per Bergsholm; Ole A Andreassen; Ulrik F Malt; Gunnar Morken Journal: BMC Psychiatry Date: 2010-02-23 Impact factor: 3.630
Authors: Konstantinos N Fountoulakis; Lakshmi Yatham; Heinz Grunze; Eduard Vieta; Allan Young; Pierre Blier; Siegfried Kasper; Hans Jurgen Moeller Journal: Int J Neuropsychopharmacol Date: 2017-02-01 Impact factor: 5.176
Authors: Lindsay S Schenkel; Amy E West; Rachel Jacobs; John A Sweeney; Mani N Pavuluri Journal: J Child Psychol Psychiatry Date: 2012-02-17 Impact factor: 8.982
Authors: J Volkert; M A Schiele; Julia Kazmaier; Friederike Glaser; K C Zierhut; J Kopf; S Kittel-Schneider; A Reif Journal: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci Date: 2015-11-26 Impact factor: 5.270
Authors: D M Cannon; J K Klaver; S K Gandhi; G Solorio; S A Peck; K Erickson; N Akula; J Savitz; W C Eckelman; M L Furey; B J Sahakian; F J McMahon; W C Drevets Journal: Mol Psychiatry Date: 2010-03-30 Impact factor: 15.992
Authors: Giacomo Salvadore; Wayne C Drevets; Ioline D Henter; Carlos A Zarate; Husseini K Manji Journal: Early Interv Psychiatry Date: 2008-08 Impact factor: 2.732