A Comparison of Selective Attention Processing in Major Depressive Disorder and Schizophrenia

Objective: Cognitive deficits play an important role in differential diagnostics, prognosis and rehabilitation of people with psychological disorders. Attention problems have profound impact on the therapeutic response, risk of relapse, function and quality of life in people with major depressive disorder and schizophrenia. This study compared selective attention of people with schizophrenia, Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and healthy controls. Methods: The sample consisted of 16 hospitalized schizophrenics, 16 with major depressive disorder, and 16 matched healthy controls. The Stroop color word task was presented to the participants, and the RTs and error rates in naming the color stimuli were recorded. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and multivariate regressions. Results: Those in the MDD group and healthy controls showed the highest and the lowest error rates and RT averages, respectively. In addition, the demographic/personal variables were also used to predict the performance measures. Conclusion: The findings gave support to the notion of morbidity-specific selective attention impairment. The higher levels of interference in the MDD group have been explained in line with the filtration deficit conceptualization.