Taban Salem1, Mary A Fristad2, L Eugene Arnold3, H Gerry Taylor4, Thomas W Frazier5, Sarah M Horwitz6, Robert L Findling7, The Lams Group8. 1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Electronic address: taban.salem@osumc.edu. 2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; Departments of Psychology and Nutrition, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. 3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. 4. Biobehavioral Health Center, Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. 5. Autism Speaks, New York, NY. 6. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY. 7. Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. 8. Department of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH; and Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; and Division of Psychiatry, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The affective go/no-go (AGN) task has been used to assess affective biases in attention set-shifting and deficits in inhibitory control of emotional information among depressed youth, but results have been inconsistent. We aimed to test AGN robustness and clarify temporal relationships between depressive symptoms and affective processing in youth. METHODS: We evaluated AGN performance twice (Time 1 N = 306; Time 2 N = 238) in relation to current, previous, and future depression in the same children/adolescents with depression and those without diagnoses who participated in the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) study. Mixed repeated ANCOVAs were powered to detect small-medium group by valence interactions in response latency and errors. Supplemental regression analyses examined depressive symptoms as a continuous variable in relation to AGN performance. RESULTS: No clear pattern emerged, mirroring the broader AGN literature. In primary analyses, group by valence interactions were only observed at one AGN administration; none replicated across administrations. Similarly, in regression analyses depressive symptoms had no relation to affective processing biases/deficits at AGN Time 1, though some relationships were detected between symptoms and AGN Time 2. LIMITATIONS: Relatively few youth met criteria for a depressive disorder, though analyses were appropriately powered and supplemental analyses examined depressive symptoms continuously. Comparison groups were not healthy controls at recruitment but were free from any Axis I disorder at AGN administration. CONCLUSIONS: Given the inconsistency of AGN findings, attention should be focused on tasks that provide more sensitive, robust measures of emotional information processing in depressed youth.
BACKGROUND: The affective go/no-go (AGN) task has been used to assess affective biases in attention set-shifting and deficits in inhibitory control of emotional information among depressed youth, but results have been inconsistent. We aimed to test AGN robustness and clarify temporal relationships between depressive symptoms and affective processing in youth. METHODS: We evaluated AGN performance twice (Time 1 N = 306; Time 2 N = 238) in relation to current, previous, and future depression in the same children/adolescents with depression and those without diagnoses who participated in the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) study. Mixed repeated ANCOVAs were powered to detect small-medium group by valence interactions in response latency and errors. Supplemental regression analyses examined depressive symptoms as a continuous variable in relation to AGN performance. RESULTS: No clear pattern emerged, mirroring the broader AGN literature. In primary analyses, group by valence interactions were only observed at one AGN administration; none replicated across administrations. Similarly, in regression analyses depressive symptoms had no relation to affective processing biases/deficits at AGN Time 1, though some relationships were detected between symptoms and AGN Time 2. LIMITATIONS: Relatively few youth met criteria for a depressive disorder, though analyses were appropriately powered and supplemental analyses examined depressive symptoms continuously. Comparison groups were not healthy controls at recruitment but were free from any Axis I disorder at AGN administration. CONCLUSIONS: Given the inconsistency of AGN findings, attention should be focused on tasks that provide more sensitive, robust measures of emotional information processing in depressed youth.
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