ReviewBrain sciences2021
A Systematic Review of Executive Function and Information Processing Speed in Major Depression Disorder.
Review in Brain sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Change in Cognitive Function over the Course of Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2025Pooled it
- Cognitive outcomes following functional neurosurgery in refractory OCD patients: a systematic review.Neurosurgical review · 2023Pooled it
- High rates of cognitive impairment in people experiencing homelessness demand radical policy change.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2026Article
- The Role of Depression on Medical Mistrust and Mental Health Service Use in Black Adults.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Associations Between Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Cognitive Impairment, and Depressive Symptoms.Neurology · 2026Article
- Risk and protective factors for consistent family routines among caregivers with preschool-age children.Child abuse & neglect · 2026Article
- Comparison of Cognitive Functions in Patients with Autogenous and Reactive Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Attachment Anxiety and Disordered Eating Among Chinese Young Women: The Mediation of Different Negative Emotions.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Multimodal Virtual Reality Assessment of Medication Effects in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Its Distinction From Depression: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Associations Between Religiosity, Spirituality and Depressive Symptoms Among People Experiencing Homelessness in São Paulo, Brazil: An Observational Study.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2026Observational
- Cognitive Impairment, Dementia and Depression in Older Adults.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- APOE-ε4 moderates the association between diet quality and executive function in middle-aged women at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease.Journal of nutritional science · 2026Article
- Keying Into Cognition: Temporal Smoothing of Smartphone Typing Behaviors for Passive Assessment of Processing Speed and Executive Function in Individuals With Mood Disorders.Cognitive computation · 2026Article
- Investigating Sensorimotor Decision-Making in Depressed Individuals Using a Bayesian Approach.Computational psychiatry (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Using games to identify adolescents at risk for substance misuse-a proof-of-concept study.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Article
- Lost in Speech: Depressive Rumination and the Dynamics of Inner Silence.Inquiry (Oslo, Norway) · 2025Article
- Neurocognitive Biotypes of Risk and Resilience for Mood Disorders in Adolescents: Insights From Behavioral and Graph-Theoretic Network Markers.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- A pilot study examining a ketogenic diet as an adjunct therapy in college students with major depressive disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Atopic dermatitis and executive function across early and middle childhood - A longitudinal cohort study of children in the United Kingdom.Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV · 2025Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMajor depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized neuropsychologically by poor performance in tasks of memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the evidence regarding the neuropsychological profile of people with major depression and to determine which of two explanatory models-the processing speed hypothesis or the cognitive effort hypothesis-has most empirical support.
methodsWe searched three relevant databases and reviewed the reference lists of the articles retrieved. The results obtained with the Trail Making Test and the Stroop Color-Word Test were reviewed for 37 studies published between 1993 and 2020.
resultsThe empirical evidence supports both hypotheses: cognitive effort and processing speed, suggesting that depression is not only characterized by psychomotor slowing but also involves a specific deficit in executive function. DISCUSSION: We discuss potentially relevant variables that should be considered in future research in order to improve knowledge about the neurocognitive profile of depression. The main limitation of this study derives from the considerable heterogeneity of participants with MD, which makes it difficult to compare and integrate the data.
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Registered trials
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