Patients suffering from a major unipolar depression (n = 17) and a normal control group (n = 17) were compared on a noninterrupted vigilance task with a duration of 36 min. The performance decrement over time of the depressed group was indicative of a deficit in sustained attention.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental diseases. (4th ed., Rev.) Washington, DC: Author.
2.
AiraksinenE.LarssonM.LundbergI.ForsellY. (2004) Cognitive functions in depressive disorders: Evidence from a population-based study. Psychological Medicine, 4, 3–91.
3.
ClarkL.IversenS. D.GoodwinG. M. (2002) Sustained attention deficit in bipolar disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 313–319.
4.
HamiltonM. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.
5.
MajerM.IsingM.KunzelH.BinderE. B.HolsboerF.ModellS.ZihlJ. (2004) Impaired divided attention predicts delayed response and risk to relapse in subjects with depressive disorders. Psychological Medicine, 34, 1453–1463.
6.
MoffootA.O'CarrollR. E.BennieJ. (1994) Diurnal variation of mood and neuropsychological function in major depression with melancholia. Journal of Affective Disorders, 32, 257–269.
7.
PavuluriM. N.SchenkelL. S.AryalS.HarralE. M.HillS. K.HerbenerE. S.SweeneyJ. A. (2006) Neurocognitive function in unmedicated manic and medicated euthymic pediatric bipolar patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 286–293.
8.
PolitisA.LykourasL.MourtzouchouP.ChristodoulouG. N. (2004) Attentional disturbances in patients with unipolar psychotic depression: A selective and sustained attention study. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 45, 452–459.
9.
RavnkildeB.VidebechP.ClemmensenK.RasmussenN. A.RosenbergR. (2002) Cognitive deficits in major depression. Psychological Medicine, 27, 1277–1285.
10.
SandersA. F. (1998) Elements of human performance: Reaction processes and attention in human skills. Mahwah, NY: Erlbaum.
11.
ThompsonJ. M.GrayJ. M.WilkinsonB. S.HughesJ. M.Del-EstalD.WatsonS.FerrierI. N.YoungA. H. (2001) Impaired working memory monitoring on the Self-ordered Pointing Task in euthymic bipolar patients. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 15 (Suppl.), A67.
