University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Resource allocation in dysthymia and anhedonia

Yee, Cindy May

This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/20134

Description

Title
Resource allocation in dysthymia and anhedonia
Author(s)
Yee, Cindy May
Issue Date
1991
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Miller, Gregory A.
Department of Study
Psychology
Discipline
Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Psychology, Psychobiology
  • Psychology, Clinical
  • Psychology, Experimental
Language
eng
Abstract
Prior psychophysiological research has shown that dysthymic individuals are hyporesponsive during information processing tasks. This can be interpreted as evidence of a deficit in the availability or allocation of processing resources. The present research addressed this possibility by comparing dysthymics to anhedonic and normal control subjects in a dual-task paradigm. Reaction time, performance accuracy, and the P300 component of the event-related brain potential were employed as measures of the attentional resources directed to memory tasks, under conditions of varying task priority and difficulty. As expected, dysthymics and anhedonics did not differ from controls on performance measures. However, compared to control subjects, dysthymics and anhedonics responded differentially to priority manipulations as indexed by P300 amplitude. Specifically, dysthymics and anhedonics failed to show changes in resource allocation with shifts in task priority under certain conditions. Dysthymics and anhedonics also exhibited a consistently smaller P300. Taken together, the data suggest that dysthymics and anhedonics are deficient in the allocation of resources rather than the overall level of available resources.
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/20134
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 1991 Yee, Cindy May

Owning Collections

Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
Dissertations and Theses - Psychology
Dissertations and Theses from the Dept. of Psychology