Evolutionary Psychology
www.epjournal.net – 2007. 5(3): 584-604
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Original Article
The functional design of depression’s influence on attention: A preliminary
test of alternative control-process mechanisms
Paul W. Andrews, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics (VIPBG), Virginia
Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA. Email: pandrews@vcu.edu (Corresponding author)
Steven H. Aggen, VIPBG, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Geoffrey F. Miller, Psychology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Christopher Radi, Psychology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
John E. Dencoff, Psychology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Michael C. Neale, VIPBG, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Abstract: Substantial evidence indicates that depression focuses attention on the problems
that caused the episode, so much that it interferes with the ability to focus on other things.
We hypothesized that depression evolved as a response to important, complex problems
that could only be solved, if they could be solved at all, with an attentional state that was
highly focused for sustained periods. Under this hypothesis, depression promotes analysis
and problem-solving by focusing attention on the problem and reducing distractibility. This
predicts that attentionally demanding problems will elicit depressed affect in subjects. We
also propose two control-process mechanisms by which depression could focus attention
and reduce distractibility. Under these mechanisms, depression exerts a force on attention
like that of a spring when it is pulled or like a magnet on a steel ball. These mechanisms
make different predictions about how depressed people respond emotionally to a task that
pulls attention away from their problems. We tested these predictions in a sample of 115
undergraduate students. Consistent with our main prediction, initially non-depressed
su