Time-on-task effect in trait anhedonia

• Published in: European psychiatry Vol. 19; no. 5; pp. 285 - 291
• Main Authors: Dubal, Stéphanie, Jouvent, Roland
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Elsevier SAS 01.08.2004; Elsevier; Cambridge University press
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Affective neuroscience; Anhedonia; Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Life Sciences; Male; Neurons and Cognition; Personality; Personality Disorders; Personality Disorders - classification; Personality Disorders - diagnosis; Personality Disorders - psychology; Personality traits; Personality. Affectivity; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reaction Time; Time-on-task; Variability; Anhedonia; Time-on-task; Personality; Affective neuroscience; Variability; Attention; Human; Vigilance; Healthy subject; Cognitive ability; Cognition; Experimental study; Student; Intraindividual comparison; Young adult; Information processing; Reaction time; Neuropsychologia; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0924-9338; 1778-3585
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2004.04.007

The capacity to sustain attention was explored in a sample of anhedonic subjects according to the Chapman physical anhedonia scale. Sustained attention was determined by studying task-induced changes over the duration of the Eriksen response competition task [Percept. Psychophys. 16 (1974) 143]. Anhedonic subjects had longer reaction times (RTs), but missed no more targets than control subjects. Anhedonic subject RTs got longer with time-on-task (TOT) and displayed greater intra-subject variability. These results confirm those of a previous study indicating that anhedonic subjects may have developed a more conservative response strategy [Psychophysiology 37 (2000) 711] and suggest that this strategy may result in a more rapid decrease in energetical resources. Moreover, the greater intra-subject variability demonstrates the importance of assessing performance over time and its relationship to the variability of responses in the cognitive performance of anhedonic subjects.