Outbreak of COVID-19 altered the relationship between memory bias and depressive degree in nonclinical depression

The role of depression and diabetes distress in glycemic control: A meta-analysis

AIMS

This study evaluated the associations between depression, diabetes distress, glycemic control (HbA1c), and self-care behaviours in individuals with diabetes. Findings on these relationships have been inconsistent, highlighting the need for systematic evaluation.

METHODS

Data from 61 studies involving 19,537 participants conducted between 2001 and 2024 were analysed using random-effects models. Subgroup analyses examined variations by diabetes type, geographic location, and measurement tools. Heterogeneity was assessed using I2 statistics.

RESULTS

Depression and diabetes distress were significantly associated with poorer glycemic control (r = 0.23, 95 % CI [0.15 to 0.31], p < 0.001) and reduced self-care behaviours (r = -0.19, 95 % CI [-0.28 to -0.10], p < 0.001). Stronger correlations were observed in mixed diabetes populations (r = 0.35, 95 % CI [0.30 to 0.40], I2 = 0 %) and in studies conducted in Europe (r = 0.28) and North America (r = 0.34). High heterogeneity (I2 = 97.24 %) was identified.

CONCLUSIONS

Depression and diabetes distress are associated with poorer glycemic control and reduced self-care behaviours. Findings highlight the need for standardized measures and longitudinal studies to explore mechanisms underlying these associations.

Dose-dependent association between physical activity and mental health, and mitigation effects on risk behaviors

Understanding the dose-response effects of physical activity on mental health and risk behavior mitigation is crucial for mental health promotion. This study using restricted cubic spline and piecewise regression analyses based on a representative national sample of 30,054 Chinese adults, revealed reverse J-shaped (p for nonlinear <0.001) but monotonic beneficial associations between physical activity and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, with optimal thresholds identified at 2.15 METs-hour/day for depression and anxiety, and 3.25 METs-hour/day for stress. Engaging in 1-3 METs-hour/day of physical activity appeared to mitigate the adverse effects of unhealthy food intake on depression and anxiety, whereas 4-6 METs-hour/day could offset the impact of short sleep duration on depression, anxiety, and stress. The findings suggest that physical activity prescription could be effective in mitigating the adverse effects of certain risk behaviors on common mental symptoms, and excessive physical activity might not be necessary for mental health promotion.

Emotion regulation during encoding reduces negative and enhances neutral mnemonic discrimination in individuals with depressive symptoms

Individuals with depression exhibit dysfunctional emotion regulation, general episodic memory deficits, and a negativity bias, where negative experiences are better remembered. Recent work suggests that the negativity bias in depression may be driven by enhanced mnemonic discrimination, a memory measure that relies on hippocampal pattern separation - a computation that processes experiences with overlapping features as unique. Previously, we found that individuals with depressive symptoms show enhanced negative and impaired neutral mnemonic discrimination. The current study aimed to investigate emotion regulation as an approach toward modifying memory encoding of negative and neutral events in individuals with depressive symptoms. Here we show that applying psychological distancing (a cognitive reappraisal strategy characterized by taking a third-person perspective toward negative events) during encoding was associated with reduced negative and enhanced neutral mnemonic discrimination during retrieval in individuals with depressive symptoms. These results suggest that applying emotion regulation techniques during encoding may provide an effective approach toward altering dysfunctional memory in those with depressive symptoms. Given that pharmacological treatments often fail to treat depression, emotion regulation provides a powerful and practical approach toward modifying cognitive and emotional processes. Future neuroimaging studies will be important to determine how emotion regulation impacts the neural mechanisms underlying these findings.

Positive biases and psychological functioning during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Many individuals have experienced a multitude of chronic stressors and diminished psychological functioning during COVID-19. The current study examined whether biases towards positive social media or positive autobiographical memories was related to increases in psychological functioning during COVID-19. Participants were 1071 adults (Mage = 46.31; 58% female; 78% White) recruited from MTurk. Participants reported on their social media consumption and autobiographical recall, positive and negative affect, and dysphoria symptoms. Results indicated that, at the first assessment collected in the spring and summer of 2020, positively biased social media consumption was cross-sectionally related to higher levels of positive affect, and positively biased autobiographical recall was cross-sectionally related to lower levels of negative affect and dysphoria symptoms. Sensitivity analyses examined cross-sectional relations from a second assessment collected in fall 2020, and prospective cross-lagged analyses. The findings point to potential psychological benefits of positive biases during chronic stressors.

A behavioral protocol to assess the relationship between three cognitive biases and future depression severity

According to the cognitive model of depression, memory bias, interpretation bias, and attention bias are associated with the development and maintenance of depression. Here, we present a protocol for investigating whether and how the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may affect the relationship between current cognitive biases and future depression severity in a population with non-clinical depression. This protocol can also be used in other contexts, including cognitive bias-related studies and depression-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies.

For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Zhang et al. (2021).

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A protocol to assess relationship between cognitive biases and depression severity

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Guidelines for evaluating memory, interpretation, and attention biases

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Guidelines for conducting an fMRI experiment

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Effect of COVID-19 on relationship between memory bias and depression severity