| Publication Abstract Display | | Type: Poster | | Title: Memory deficits for affective words among HIV+ persons with Bipolar Disorder. | | Authors: Posada C, Moore DJ, Gouaux B, Letendre SL, Atkinson JA, Grant I, and the HNRP Group | | Date: 02-15-2012 | | Abstract:Objective: Mood congruent memory bias has been found among individuals with bipolar disorders; that is, words that are emotionally congruent with an individual’s mood state are better recalled than non-congruent emotional words. The present study examined the performance of HIV-infected individuals with co-morbid bipolar disorder (HIV+/BD+) on the Affective Reading Span Task (ARST) as compared to HIV-infected individuals without co-morbid bipolar disorder (HIV+/BD-).
Participants and Methods: HIV+/BD+ (n=28) and HIV+/BD- (n=23) participants were administered the ARST. Participants were instructed to orally read an affectively-laden (positive, negative) sentence presented on a computer screen, and then recall an affectively congruent word given at the end of each sentence. Groups were comparable on demographic, HIV disease, and current substance use factors.
Results: Both groups recalled, on average, more negative than positive words. HIV+/BD+ individuals recalled significantly fewer total words (p=0.04) and fewer positive words (p=0.02) than HIV+/BD- individuals. Across both groups, no significant correlations were found between ARST scores and levels of current mood symptoms (i.e., Beck Depression Inventory-II, Young Mania Rating Scale). Within the HIV+/BD+ group, no significant correlations were found between ARST variables and neuropsychological domains.
Conclusions: HIV+/BD+ individuals have particular difficulty recalling words that have a positive emotional valence. Performance was not related to general or domain-specific neurocognitive functioning or current mood symptoms, suggesting that this recalling emotionally-valenced content is more a trait characteristic of comorbid bipolar disorder than a result of mood state. Results suggest that emotional cognition may be a separate entity above and beyond the simple combination of emotion and cognition. |
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