| dc.description.abstract | The influence of visual mental imagery on emotion processing is well-established, and its
vividness has further been shown to vary by valence and diagnostic groups. While both
depression and anxiety are associated with dysfunctions in affective processing of visual imagery
and visual percepts separately, a direct comparison of internal and external visual processing has
not yet been undertaken. Moreover, while individual differences in imagery vividness have been
observed in isolated psychopathologies, the manner in which these differences manifest in
comorbid depression and anxiety is uncertain. The current study examined features of internal
and external affective visual processing in relation to depression, anxiety, and their comorbidity,
through an emotion appraisal task. In separate experimental blocks, participants were presented
with trials of affective pictures and imagery cues and were subsequently asked to rate the
emotional valence and clarity/vividness of each stimulus. Ratings were compared to participants’
scores on self-report measures of depression and anxiety. Further analyses assessed the utility of
continuous (dimensional) versus categorical (multidimensional) models of psychopathology.
Results revealed depression scores alone to be associated with reduced vividness ratings for
positive (but not negative or neutral) imagery. Further, depression was related to more negative
appraisals of valenced imagery but not pictures, and reduced clarity ratings for valenced pictures
but not neutral pictures. Results also support the utility of dimensional models of
psychopathology, with limited evidence to support strong categorization of psychopathological
features. Findings are discussed in relation to attention and reward processing, as well as
cognitive and neural resource engagement. | en_US |
