Open AccessLow emotional arousal in depression as explained by the motivated attention approach
Author(s) -
Stephan Moratti
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
escritos de psicología
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1989-3809
pISSN - 1138-2635
DOI - 10.24310/espsiescpsi.v5i2.13297
Subject(s) - arousal , psychology , depression (economics) , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , emotional regulation , developmental psychology , economics , macroeconomics
Depression has been associated with low emotional arousal. Highly arousing emotional stimuli engage the cortical circuits related to the allocation of attention towards these stimuli. Thus, it has been hypothesized that depression could be characterized by a deficit in these brain circuits. This brief review summarizes how attention and emotion are interconnected and suggests that common brain mechanisms underlie the link between emotion and attention. Finally, the results from depression research are presented that show that low emotional arousal in depression could arise from a deficit in brain circuits related to attention.