Lack of Attentional Bias for Emotional Information in Clinically Depressed Children and Adolescents on the Dot Probe Task.

The present study utilised a cognitive paradigm to investigate attentional biases in clinically depressed children and adolescents. Two groups of children and adolescents-clinically depressed ( N = 19) and normal controls ( N = 26)-were asked to complete a computerised version of the attentional dot probe paradigm similar to that used by MacLeod, Mathews, and Tata (1986). Results provided no support for an attentional bias, either toward depression-related words or threat words, in the depressed group. This finding is discussed in the context of cognitive theories of anxiety and depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]