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Focused attention in anhedonia: A P3 study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2000

STEPHANIE DUBAL
Affiliation:
CNRS UMR 7593, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France
ANNICK PIERSON
Affiliation:
CNRS UMR 7593, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France
ROLAND JOUVENT
Affiliation:
CNRS UMR 7593, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France
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Abstract

Attentional and information processing impairments have been evidenced in nonclinical anhedonic subjects. However, the extent of attentional deficit has not been determined. We studied focused attention, the ability to reject irrelevant or distracting messages, in anhedonic nonclinical subjects. The event-related potentials and behavioral performances of anhedonic subjects were compared with those of control subjects during the Eriksen focused attention task (C.W. Eriksen & B.A. Eriksen, 1974); the task combined one compatible and one incompatible condition, the latter causing an interference. Anhedonic subjects exhibited a smaller P300 and slower reaction times than control subjects. Varying task conditions had different effects on anhedonic subjects and controls, suggesting that anhedonic subjects may have developed a conservative response strategy. In view of previous works, these results suggest that attentional impairment is not ascribed to specific processes, but may involve a more global deficit, that is, a resource allocation deficit.

Type
BRIEF REPORT
Copyright
© 2000 Society for Psychophysiological Research

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