Heightened ruminative disposition is associated with impaired attentional disengagement from negative relative to positive information: Support for the “impaired disengagement” hypothesis

Abstract

Information processing accounts of rumination have suggested that impaired disengagement of attention from negative information may underpin heightened disposition to experience ruminative brooding in response to negative mood. The present study examined the relationship between individual differences in ruminative disposition and selective attention, using a paradigm capable of distinguishing between biases in the engagement and disengagement of attention. Results found that higher dispositional ruminative brooding, as measured by both the brooding subscale of the RRS and an in-vivo assessment of dispositional ruminative brooding, was associated with greater relative impairment disengaging attention from negative compared to positive stimuli. These findings thus provide support for the “impaired disengagement” account of ruminative brooding.