Effects of brooding on verbal working memory capacity

Abstract

Effects of brooding, a negative component of cognitive information processing during rumination, and possible effects of depressive symptoms on verbal working memory capacity were investigated. Healthy undergraduate and graduate students (N=37) participated in a test for assessing reading span and recall, and also completed the Japanese version of the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS), the Japanese version of Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Stanford Sleepiness Scale. Results of t-tests conducted on recall and reading span scores with high and low brooding as independent variables indicated no significant differences. Moreover, an analysis of variance on recall and reading span scores, with high and low brooding and high and low depressive symptoms as independent variables also indicated no significant differences. These results suggest that characteristics of verbal working memory capacity are not impaired by brooding and rather that brooding might cause impairments of visuospatial working memory capacity.