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Age Differences in Interpretation Bias in Community and Comorbid Depressed and Anxious Samples

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Abstract

Negative interpretation biases have been associated with clinical depression and anxiety. However, ageing is associated with a positivity effect, in which older adults have a positive interpretation bias compared to younger adults. Few studies have compared interpretation biases in younger and older adults and fewer have made this comparison in clinical samples with anxiety and depression. This study conducted a signal detection analysis to assess differences in interpretation biases to ambiguous sentences in a control and a depressed and anxious sample of younger (18–30 years) and older (60+ years) adults. Participants completed an interpretation bias task in which they were presented with unambiguous neutral sentences and ambiguous sentences related to threat. In addition, participants completed a recognition memory task to assess sensitivity and response biases to threat. Clinical anxiety and depression was associated with a negative interpretation bias; however, there were no significant differences in sensitivity or response bias on the recognition memory task. Older age was associated with a positive interpretation bias. Compared to younger adults, older adults showed a positive interpretation bias for ambiguous sentences, and greater sensitivity towards neutral sentences. In contrast, younger adults showed a negative interpretation bias, as well as a response bias towards threatening sentences.

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Notes

  1. The same younger and older clinical (comorbid depression and anxiety) and community groups completed the Expectancy Task and the Interpretation bias task reported here. The tasks were completed in randomised order between participants. Full results of the Expectancy Task are reported elsewhere (in preparation; Tadic et al. 2015a).

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Macquarie University Higher Degree Research Grant.

Conflict of Interest

Dusanka Tadic, Viviana M. Wuthrich and Ronald M. Rapee declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Animal Rights

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Dusanka Tadic, Viviana M. Wuthrich & Ronald M. Rapee

Authors
  1. Dusanka Tadic
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  2. Viviana M. Wuthrich
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  3. Ronald M. Rapee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dusanka Tadic.

Appendix

Appendix

Example Sentences from Part 1:

  1. 1.

    Unambiguous Neutral

    • You are rushing for the bus when you notice a colorful advert on the side of the bus

    • While you are on the way to an appointment you look at the display in a shop window

    • You reach out to turn on the kettle but decide to have a glass of fruit juice instead

    • As you step off the bus you throw your ticket in the wastebin provided

  2. 2.

    Ambiguous Physical Threat

    • Watching a sad film in a crowded cinema you feel your breath catch in your throat

    • At the cancer screening clinic you see a nurse coming towards you holding the X-ray negatives in her hand

    • You are climbing a steep flight of stairs in a hurry when you feel your heart pounding

  3. 3.

    Ambiguous Social Threat

    • Some of your friends have been talking together and you realise they don’t want you to overhear them

    • Your boss calls you to their office to discuss the quality of your recent work

    • Out shopping one day you see a neighbour across the road, but when you call to them they walk straight past

    • While talking to your best friend about one of your concerns, you notice that they are looking away

Example Sentence Sets from Part 2:

  1. 1.

    Ambiguous Physical Threat

    • Threat Probe: You are climbing a steep flight of stairs in a hurry when you feel as though you are about to have a heart attack.

    • Threat Distractor: You are climbing a steep flight of stairs in a hurry when you trip and fall downstairs.

    • Non-threat Probe: You are climbing a steep flight of stairs in a hurry and you feel your heart beating strongly and healthily.

    • Non-threat Distractor: You are climbing a steep flight of stairs in a hurry and feel full of life and energy.

  2. 2.

    Ambiguous Social Threat

    • Threat Probe: While talking to your best friend about one of your concerns, you notice they are tired of listening to you.

    • Threat Distractor: While talking to your best friend about one of your concerns, they start to argue with you.

    • Non-threat Probe: While talking to your best friend about one of your concerns, something distracts them.

    • Non-threat Distractor: While talking to your best friend about one of your concerns, you are interrupted by a knock on the door.

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Tadic, D., Wuthrich, V.M. & Rapee, R.M. Age Differences in Interpretation Bias in Community and Comorbid Depressed and Anxious Samples. Cogn Ther Res 39, 459–472 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-015-9676-6

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