A test of the interacting cognitive subsystems model using a laboratory analogue of depressive interlock

The interacting Cognitive subsystems (ICS) model has been described as a useful framework within which to understand a wide variety of psychological phenomena. There is now a small literature of studies that have found support for many of the model's basic features. One feature that has not been studied is depressive interlock, described as uncontrollable, repetitious processing of negative themes. To further test some of the predictions derived from ICS, we compared a group of clinically depressed participants with a non-depressed control group, using a specially designed cognitive task to examine the effects of emotional tone of stimuli on information processing. Results indicated that depression (but not euthymia) is characterized by perseverative responding for both positively and negatively emotionally toned self-related material, but not for similar neutral material. This result is suggested as further empirical support for the ICS framework. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.