Neural correlates of sustained attention and cognitive control in depression and rumination: An ERP study

•The factors related to attention deficits in depression remain unclear.•Sustained attention is supported by neuro-cognitive mechanisms such as inhibition.•Rumination is related to attention so may influence inhibition.•Rumination and depression together increased neural activity supporting inhibition.•The reflection subtype of rumination moderated efficient inhibitory function. Attention problems and risk for depression are often associated with a trait tendency towards rumination. Although theorists have linked rumination to deficits in attention, the nature of its effect on cognitive control, and how it may interact with depression remains unclear. Therefore, this study explored cognitive control in depression and two forms of rumination (brooding and reflection) associated with passive and analytic responses to negative mood, respectively. An electrophysiological Go/NoGo vigilance task was used to measure N2 and P3 event related potentials (ERPs) associated with the recruitment of cognitive resources and inhibition of motor responses in the task, respectively. Participants continuous levels of depressive symptoms and trait levels of each form of rumination were also obtained by self-report. Consistent with prior research, significantly larger mean amplitudes in the N2 and P3 ranges were observed in NoGo versus Go trials. A significant interaction between reflection and depression on P3 amplitudes was observed, indicating that at high levels of reflection, as depression increased P3 amplitudes to NoGo trials also increased. Levels of depression and reflection were not significantly associated with accuracy or reaction time in the task. No significant interactions between depression and brooding, or main effect of brooding was observed on any task measure. Thus, high levels of reflection may uniquely and negatively impact the efficiency that cognitive resources are applied during goal directed behavior in depression. Results are discussed in relation to cognitive models of depression and rumination.