| Publication Abstract Display | | Type: Published Abstract | | Title: Emotional Stroop performance among HIV+ individuals with Bipolar Disorder. | | Authors: Posada C, Moore DJ, Gouaux B, Letendre SL, Riggs K, Deutsch R, Atkinson JH, Grant I, and the HNRC Group | | Year: 2011 | | Publication: International Neuropsychological Society 39th Annual Meeting, Boston, Mass | | Volume: Issue: Pages: | | Abstract:Introduction: The Emotional Stroop Task (EST) has been increasingly used to assess the ability to inhibit emotionally laden stimuli. It has been reported that both bipolar patients and HIV-infected individuals show longer reaction times for emotionally laden words than for neutral words (e.g., Lyon et al, 1999; Novara et al, 2000).
Method: HIV infected individuals with (HIV+/BD+, n=29) and without bipolar disorder (HIV+/BD-, n=29) were administered a modified version of the EST as described in Lyon et al., 1999. The EST includes both traditional Stroop conditions and emotional Stroop conditions. Groups were comparable on demographic, HIV disease, and current substance use factors; however, the HIV+/BD- group was significantly older. We conducted group comparisons for the time to complete the color-word interference for each of the conditions (depressed, happy, and neutral). We also split the whole cohort by their mood state (euthymic, depressed, manic) and compared them on the same variables.
Results: Groups were not significantly different on the traditional Stroop task; however, HIV+/BD+ individuals had significantly longer time to complete than HIV+/BD-individuals on the neutral condition of the EST (p=0.02). Similarly, although not significant, HIV+/BD+ individuals were slower than HIV+/BD- individuals on the depressed (p=0.09) and happy (p=0.10) conditions of the EST. When examining mood state within the entire cohort, significant group differences were found on the happy and neutral conditions (both ps=0.02), while for depressed condition the difference approached significance (p=0.09). In all three conditions, individuals in a manic state performed the slowest while euthymic individuals performed the fastest.
Discussion: Results indicate that HIV+/BD+ individuals experienced greater difficulties inhibiting emotionally laden stimuli than HIV+/BD- individuals, as evidenced by longer times to complete on the neutral condition of the EST, as well as on the emotionally-laden conditions. |
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