Negative cognitive biases predict subsequent depression

We administered the Scrambled Sentences Test (SST; R. M. Wenzlaff, 1993), a measure of cognitive processing bias, to a large sample of college students at Time 1. Participants completed a portion of the SST under cognitive load (holding a six-digit number in memory) and a portion without load. At Time 2, 18-28 months later, we conducted diagnostic interviews with a subset of the original participants. As expected, SST scores (proportion of negative solutions) in the cognitive load condition predicted diagnoses of major depression during an 18-28 month follow-up period, even after controlling for self-reported Time 1 depression symptoms and worst lifetime symptoms. No significant prediction of depression was obtained using SST scores from the no-load portion of the task.