5 - (SYM 29) Mapping the Cognitive Bias Landscape of Emotional Disorders

Cognitive biases are increasingly recognized as contributors to emotional disorders. While cognitive deficits such as impairments in memory and attention have long been considered transdiagnostic features of psychopathology, cognitive biases have received comparatively less systematic examination. Nevertheless, these biases play a critical role in shaping emotional symptoms by influencing how individuals interpret and respond to information.

Although prior research has examined cognitive biases within specific psychiatric diagnoses, it remains unclear whether these biases reflect transdiagnostic mechanisms across emotional disorders or are uniquely associated with particular conditions. Clarifying the transdiagnostic nature of cognitive biases may refine theoretical models of psychopathology and inform interventions targeting maladaptive cognitive processes. The present meta-analysis systematically evaluated the presence, specificity, and transdiagnostic relevance of attentional, memory, and interpretation biases assessed using experimental cognitive tasks and cognitive scales in emotional disorders, including major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, and bipolar disorder.

Following a preregistered protocol, we conducted a meta-analysis of 57 studies (N = 3,515) comparing individuals with emotional disorders to healthy controls. Analyses of attentional bias are complete, with additional bias domains currently under analysis. Random-effects and multilevel meta-analytic models were used to estimate pooled effects while accounting for heterogeneity and dependent effect sizes. Primary results indicated a small-to-moderate attentional bias toward threat (g = 0.31, 95% CI [0.09, 0.53]), accompanied by moderate heterogeneity across studies; subgroup analysis of different disorders and moderator analyses are ongoing.

Findings support the presence of attentional bias in emotional disorders while highlighting heterogeneity in bias expression across disorders, suggesting that attentional bias may represent a shared cognitive vulnerability across emotional disorders, though its expression varies substantially by context.