Resource allocation in dysthymia and anhedonia

Prior psychophysiological research has shown that dysthymic individuals are hyporesponsive during information processing tasks. This can be interpreted as evidence of a deficit in the availability or allocation of processing resources. The present research addressed this possibility by comparing dysthymics to anhedonic and normal control subjects in a dual-task paradigm. Reaction time, performance accuracy, and the P300 component of the event-related brain potential were employed as measures of the attentional resources directed to memory tasks, under conditions of varying task priority and difficulty. As expected, dysthymics and anhedonics did not differ from controls on performance measures. However, compared to control subjects, dysthymics and anhedonics responded differentially to priority manipulations as indexed by P300 amplitude. Specifically, dysthymics and anhedonics failed to show changes in resource allocation with shifts in task priority under certain conditions. Dysthymics and anhedonics also exhibited a consistently smaller P300. Taken together, the data suggest that dysthymics and anhedonics are deficient in the allocation of resources rather than the overall level of available resources.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Yee, Cindy May

Contributors dc:contributor

• Miller, Gregory A.

• Psychology, Psychobiology
• Psychology, Clinical
• Psychology, Experimental

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1991 Yee, Cindy May

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9211049
(UMI)AAI9211049

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/20134