Enhanced accuracy of mental state decoding in dysphoric college students

Abstract

A significant clinical feature of depression involves difficulties in social functioning. At the foundation of these difficulties may lie alterations in “theory of mind” reasoning—the ability to decode others' mental states. Participants included 124 undergraduates who participated in a theory of mind task that involved attributing emotion states (e.g., happy, embarrassed) to photographs of eyes. Across two studies, dysphoria was significantly positively associated with greater accuracy on this task, suggesting an increased sensitivity to the subtle social cues required to make theory of mind judgements. This association held regardless of the emotional valence of the judgement. Furthermore, this finding was robust after controlling for reaction time and level of anxiety. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for developing a model of social cognition in depression.