Nuño Laura, Gómez-Benito Juana, Carmona Viviana R, Pino Oscar
Clinical Institute of Neuroscience (ICN), Hospital Clinic, 08036 Barcelona, Spain.
Group on Measurement Invariance and Analysis of Change (GEIMAC), Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain.
Brain Sci. 2021 Jan 22;11(2):147. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11020147.
Major depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized neuropsychologically by poor performance in tasks of memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the evidence regarding the neuropsychological profile of people with major depression and to determine which of two explanatory models-the processing speed hypothesis or the cognitive effort hypothesis-has most empirical support.
We searched three relevant databases and reviewed the reference lists of the articles retrieved. The results obtained with the Trail Making Test and the Stroop Color-Word Test were reviewed for 37 studies published between 1993 and 2020.
The empirical evidence supports both hypotheses: cognitive effort and processing speed, suggesting that depression is not only characterized by psychomotor slowing but also involves a specific deficit in executive function.
We discuss potentially relevant variables that should be considered in future research in order to improve knowledge about the neurocognitive profile of depression. The main limitation of this study derives from the considerable heterogeneity of participants with MD, which makes it difficult to compare and integrate the data.
重度抑郁症是一种精神障碍，其神经心理学特征表现为在记忆、注意力、处理速度和执行功能任务中表现不佳。本系统评价的目的是检验有关重度抑郁症患者神经心理学特征的证据，并确定两种解释模型——处理速度假说或认知努力假说——哪一种得到的实证支持最多。
我们检索了三个相关数据库，并查阅了检索到的文章的参考文献列表。对1993年至2020年间发表的37项研究中使用连线测验和斯特鲁普色词测验得到的结果进行了综述。
实证证据支持这两种假说：认知努力和处理速度，这表明抑郁症不仅以精神运动迟缓为特征，还涉及执行功能的特定缺陷。
我们讨论了未来研究中应考虑的潜在相关变量，以增进对抑郁症神经认知特征的了解。本研究的主要局限性源于患有重度抑郁症的参与者存在相当大的异质性，这使得难以比较和整合数据。
