Making negative inferences for negative events, ruminating about them, and retrieving negative aspects of memories have all been associated with depression. However, the causal mechanisms that link negative inferences to negative mood and the interplay between inferences, rumination, and memory have not been explored. In the current study, we used a cognitive-bias modification (CBM) procedure to train causal inferences and assessed training effects on ruminative thinking, memory, and negative mood among people with varying levels of depression. Training had immediate effects on negative mood and rumination but not after recall of a negative autobiographical memory. Note that training affected memory: Participants falsely recalled inferences presented during the training in a training-congruent manner. Moreover, among participants with high levels of depression, training also affected causal inferences they made for an autobiographical memory retrieved after training. Our findings shed light on negative cognitive cycles that may contribute to depression.

对消极事件做出消极的推断，对其进行反思，以及检索记忆的消极方面，都与抑郁症相关。但是，尚未探讨将否定推理与否定情绪联系起来的因果机制，以及推理，反省和记忆之间的相互作用。在当前的研究中，我们使用认知偏向修正（CBM）程序来训练因果推理，并评估不同抑郁水平人群对反刍思维，记忆力和负面情绪的训练效果。训练对消极的情绪和反省具有立竿见影的效果，但回想自传性的消极记忆却没有。请注意，训练会影响记忆力：参与者错误地回忆起训练过程中以训练一致的方式提出的推论。而且，在抑郁程度高的参与者中，培训也影响了他们对培训后检索到的自传体记忆的因果推断。我们的发现揭示了可能导致抑郁的负面认知周期。