Computerized Victoria Stroop Test in Adult Unipolar Depressed Patients and Healthy Subjects: Influence of Age and Gender
- 1 António Silva Leal Foundation, Lisboa, Portugal
- 2 Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
- 3 Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital Center of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
- 4 Research Centre for Spatial and Organization Dynamics (CIEO), Faro, Portugal
- 5 Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital Center of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
- 6 Centre for Biomedical Research (CBMR), Faro, Portugal
Abstract
Alterations in executive functioning are frequent in depressive patients, being the common appearance of difficulties in inhibitory control. This study aimed to compare the performance of 31 non-psychotic unipolar depressed subjects (22 women and 9 men, with a mean age of 43.81 years old [SD = 14.78]) to 31 healthy controls (21 women and 10 men, with a mean age of 42.77 years old [SD = 13.94]) in a computerized version of Victoria Stroop Test (VST), an instrument that assessed the inhibitory control. Significant differences between depressed patients and healthy controls are concerning time to complete dots, neutral words and color words, as well as in interference trial. A clear influence of the variable age in both groups was also identified, having older subjects (over 50 years old) exhibited slower performances, showing a shared variance between 40% and 55% regarding depressive subjects and between 31% and 55% concerning healthy controls.
- Canavarro, M. C. (2007). Inventário de Sintomas Psicopatológicos (BSI): Uma revisão crítica dos estudos realizados em Portugal. In M. R. Simões, C. Machado, M. M. Gonçalves, & L. S. Almeida (Eds.), Avaliação Psicológica: Instrumentos Validados para a População Portuguesa (vol. III, pp. 305-330). Coimbra, Portugal: Quarteto Editora.
- Gohier, B., Ferracci, L., Surguladze, S. A., Lawrence, E., El Hage, W., Kefi, M. Z., Le Gall, D. et al. (2009). Cognitive Inhibition and Working Memory in Unipolar Depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 116, 100-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2008.10.028
- Harvey, P. O., Le Bastard, G., Pochon, J. B., Levy, R., Allilaire, J. F., Dubois, B., & Fossati, P. (2004). Executive Functions and Updating of the Contents of Working Memory in Unipolar Depression. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 38, 567-576. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2004.03.003
- Mitrushina, M., Boone, K. B., Razani, J., & D’Elia, L. F. (2005). Handbook of Normative Data for Neuropsychological Assessment (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The Unity and Diversity of Executive Functions and Their Contributions to Complex “Frontal Lobe” Tasks: A Latent Variable Analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49-100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
- Mueller, S. T. (2013). The Psychology Experiment Building Language (Version 0.13) [Software]. http://pebl.sourceforge.net
- Mueller, S. T., & Piper, B. J. (2014). The Psychology Experiment Building Language (PEBL) and PEBL Test Battery. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 222, 250-259. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2013.10.024
- Sheehan, D., Lecrubier, Y., Harnett Sheehan, K., Janavs, J., Weiller, E., Keskiner, A., Dunbar, G. et al. (1997). The Validity of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) According to the SCID-P and Its Reliability. European Psychiatry, 12, 232-241. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0924-9338(97)83297-X
- Simões, M., Sousa, L., Duarte, P., Firmino, H., Pinho, M. S., Gaspar, N., França, S. et al. (2010). Avaliação da simulação ou esforço insuficiente com o Rey 15-Item Memory Test (15-IMT): Estudos de validação em grupos de adultos idosos. Análise Psicológica, 28, 209-226.
- Stordal, K. I., Lundervold, A. J., Egeland, J., Mykletun, A., Asbjørnsen, A., Landrø, N. I., Lund, A. et al. (2004). Impairment across Executive Functions in Recurrent Major Depression. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 58, 41-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08039480310000789