Differential Effects of Working Memory Updating and Attentional Control on Rumination

IntroductionExecutive control is a high-level cognitive process that enables individuals to guide their thoughts and actions toward goals (Friedman & Miyake, 2017). In depressed people, a deficit of executive control has been shown to be related to increased rumination (e.g., Joormann & Gotlib, 2008). However, in a healthy student population, previous studies indicate that high ruminators show superior performance in tasks such as the Stroop task (e.g., Altamirano et al., 2010), while they perform poorly in tasks such as a working memory updating task (e.g., Chang et al.2017). The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive mechanism of unbalanced executive control ability in high ruminators by using a latent variable approach. Moreover, adaptive (i.e., reflection) and maladaptive (i.e., brooding) aspects of rumination may be related to an unbalanced executive control ability.MethodGraduate and undergraduate students (N = 178) performed working memory updating tasks (memory updating, running memory, and spatial 2-back task) and attentional control tasks (Stroop, flanker, and antisaccade task) followed by filling up questionnaires (Japanese Ruminative Responses Scale and The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale).ResultsWhile brooding indicated a marginally significant negative correlation with n-back performance (r = –.148, p = .050), reflection revealed a significant positive correlation with antisaccade performance (r = .228, p = .003). The effect of three latent factors (updating, attentional control, and depression) on brooding and reflection was examined by structural equation modeling. The fitness of this model was acceptable [CFI = 0.913, TLI = 0.875, SRMR = 0.061, RMSEA = 0.071 (90% Cl: 0.048, 0.093)]. However, the updating factor and the attentional control factor did not significantly predict the brooding or reflection components of rumination.DiscussionThis study showed that task-specific performances (n-back and antisaccade) are differently associated with brooding and reflection. Unbalanced executive control abilities in high ruminators were influenced by the task-specific factor but not the task-common factor.World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies 201