Cognitive training in typically and atypically developing adolescents: behavioural and neural bases

Cognitive interpretation biases have been associated with the development of depressive psychopathology. As adolescence is linked to an increased risk of developing mood disorders, research has focused on whether cognitive training can be an effective intervention. The theoretical paper therefore reviews literature on Cognitive-Bias Modification of Interpretation (CBM-I) which looks at experimentally manipulating cognitive biases and then measuring the subsequent impact on mood. In addition, studies assess if the training can have a protective influence when individuals are faced with a stressor. Research has been carried out with clinical and healthy adults and recent work has shown that bias induction can be successful with children and adolescents. If limitations outlined by the review can be overcome, then the training may pose an alternative low-cost preventative intervention, or an adjunct to traditional face-to-face psychological therapies, for children and adolescents. The empirical study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare 15 medication- free adolescents who met criteria for major depressive disorder against 15 healthy control adolescents on their ability to reappraise negative emotions, evoked through receiving peer rejection, and the underlying neural substrates involved. A pilot study was first conducted in a community sample to investigate the effectiveness of the reappraisal training script - with promising results. Thus, reappraisal training was applied to adolescents with and without depression pre-scanning. Behavioural data attested to its effectiveness in altering thoughts and mood. Significant brain activation during a Reappraisal> Baseline contrast was found in the dorsomedial and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex thought to be associated with the cognitive control of emotions and in particular reappraisal. No significant between-group differences were found in the fMRI or the behavioural data suggesting that depressed adolescents can reappraise peer rejection as effectively as their control counterparts when they have been instructed to do so. This may point to support for techniques used in psychological therapies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo