Anticipated and imagined futures: prospective cognition and depressed mood following brain injury

Abstract

Objectives
Depression, which is common following acquired brain injury (ABI), has been shown to predict cognitive impairment, rehabilitation outcome, and quality of life. Whilst many studies have examined links between depression and cognitive–affective processing in the non-ABI population, their applicability to this important clinical group, where cognitive difficulties can be marked, remains unknown. Here, we investigated biases in prospective cognition, which is known to be disrupted in (non-ABI) depression yet important for well-being.

Design
Cross-sectional design with three groups (depressed ABI, non-depressed ABI, and non-ABI control participants). Continuous data were additionally analysed in correlation analyses.

Methods
Individuals with ABI varying in extent of self-reported depression and matched non-ABI control participants completed assessments of mood and prospective cognition (anticipating and imagining future events), alongside background tests of executive function and fluid intelligence.

Results
Relative to non-depressed ABI and control participants, depressed ABI individuals demonstrated a reduced positive bias in prospective cognition: whereas non-depressed ABI and control participants generated more examples of likely or possible positive versus negative future events, there was no evidence for such a positive bias in depressed ABI participants. Non-depressed ABI and control participants also reported more vivid mental imagery for positive versus negative future scenarios, whereas such a pattern was not evident in depressed ABI participants. This pattern emerged despite background impairments in fluid intelligence and executive function associated with ABI.

Conclusions
These findings (1) elucidate depression-linked cognitive–affective processes following ABI, where cognitive difficulties are common, and (2) highlight psychological processes associated with depression that are common to ABI and non-ABI populations.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Emily A. Holmes: orcid.org/0000-0001-7319-3112

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