Training to Inhibit Negative Content Affects Memory and Rumination

Depressive rumination, the tendency to engage in repetitive self-focus in response to distress, seems to be affected by a variety of cognitive biases that in turn maintain negative emotional states. The current study examined whether the difficulty in inhibiting attention to negative information contributes to rumination and to rumination-related biases in memory. Seventy-nine ruminators underwent a 3-week computer-based training, designed to increase either inhibition of negative words or attention to them. On immediate post-training trials, as well as on 2-week follow-up tests, we found evidence for transfer of inhibition training. Training effects also occurred on session-by-session and post-training measures of state rumination, but not on a measure of trait rumination, assessed 2 weeks later. Finally, participants who were trained to inhibit negative material subsequently showed less negative bias on a memory test. These findings further establish the causal role of biased inhibition in rumination, and substantiate the view of rumination as a habit that encourages people to perceive, interpret, and remember events in a repetitive self-focused manner

Ruminators (Unlike Others) Fail to Show Suppression-Induced Forgetting on Indirect Measures of Memory

Suppression is a useful everyday skill leading to the clinically important outcome of forgetting. Suppression-induced forgetting, investigated with the think/no-think (TNT) paradigm, is typically demonstrated on direct tests of memory, even though indirect tests are often more ecologically valid. We report results from two TNT experiments terminating in indirect tests—tests that seem not to measure memory. For a subset of the participants in Experiment 1, latencies to rate word valence were delayed by flankers previously learned but not by flankers previously learned and then suppressed on 16 occasions. For a similar subset in Experiment 2, cue meaning denoted by free associations reflected the meaning established during learning, but less so when targets had been suppressed. These subsets showing suppression effects were students who did not describe themselves as ruminators. That ruminators failed to show “forgetting” on either test suggests that ruminative habits cannot be easily overcome by practicing suppression

The Brief State Rumination Inventory (BSRI): Validation and Psychometric Evaluation

Depressive rumination is an emotion regulation strategy that is considered a major risk factor for depression and other emotional disorders. While well-established measures of trait rumination are available, a psychometrically sound measure of state rumination is lacking. We report on the development and validation of a new self-report measure, the Brief State Rumination Inventory (BSRI), in both Dutch and English. In Study 1, we report the results of a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis across three independent samples (n\u2009=\u2009155; n\u2009=\u2009141; n\u2009=\u2009199). The analysis supported the unidimensionality and measurement invariance of the 8-item BSRI. We also examined its construct validity, showing that scores on the BSRI were positively related to measures of negative affect, trait rumination, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Scores were negatively related to adaptive emotion regulation strategies and to positive affect. In Study 2 (n\u2009=\u200960), we demonstrated the measure\u2019s sensitivity to an experimental manipulation of rumination. Taken together, these findings suggest that the BSRI is a quick-to-administer, valid, and reliable measure of state ruminatio

Looking on the Dark Side: Rumination and Cognitive Bias Modification

To understand cognitive bases of self-reported ruminative tendencies, we examined interpretations and subsequent memories of ambiguous situations depicting opportunities for rumination. In Experiment 1, we recruited students, randomly assigned them to a distracting or ruminative concentration task, and then measured their latencies to complete fragments that resolved situational ambiguity in either a ruminative or a benign direction. Students in the ruminative task condition who previously self-identified as brooders were quicker to complete ruminative fragments. In Experiment 2, we simulated this bias to investigate its possible contribution to rumination; nonbrooding students were trained to make ruminative or benign resolutions of ambiguous situations. Ruminative training led to more negative continuations of new, potentially ruminative situations in a subsequent transfer task. Next, ruminative training also caused more negatively valenced errors in recalling the ambiguous transfer situations. Finally, after reflection about a personal experience, state-rumination scores were higher in the ruminative condition. These results establish the causal role of interpretation biases in ruminative patterns of thought

Clear approach, fuzzy avoidance: Subgoals as a mediator of the relationship between goal orientation and well-being.

Clear approach, fuzzy avoidance: Subgoals as a mediator of the relationship between goal orientation and well-being