The Influence of Effort on Impairments of Attention Associated with Major Affective Disorders

That neuropsychological performance is impaired in patients with affective disorders is now widely accepted, and there is growing evidence that attentional dysfunction (effortful attention in particular) is one of the major impairments normally observed. The present study aimed at defining the nature of attentional dysfunction in depression by means of tests designed to measure specific aspects of attention, such as sustained, selective, focused, divided attention, etc. We also tested the e...