Who Exhibits Cognitive Biases? Mapping Heterogeneity in Attention, Interpretation, and Rumination in Depression

Although depression is heterogeneous in symptoms, few studies have asked whethercognitive features central to its etiology show similar heterogeneity. We addressed thisquestion in a treatment-seeking sample of adults with at least moderate depression (N=232) by assessing three biases: (a) attentional dwell time on sad stimuli, (b) negativeinterpretation of ambiguous stimuli, and (c) brooding rumination. K-means clusteringrevealed distinct subgroups for each cognitive feature when considered separately. Latentprofile analysis combining the three indicators identified two clear profiles: a “high-bias”group (38%) with above-average scores on all three measures—especially interpretationbias—and a “low-bias” group (62%) with below-average scores. Elastic-net regressionshowed membership in the high-bias profile was associated with greater anhedonia, feelingsof inadequacy, generalized anxiety, lower educational attainment, and unemployment.These findings demonstrate negative cognitive biases are not uniformly present amongdepressed individuals, highlighting the value of tailoring interventions to bias-definedsubgroups.