The present study utilised a cognitive paradigm to investigate attentional biases in clinically
depressed children and adolescents. Two groups of children and adolescents—clinically
depressed (N = 19) and normal controls (N = 26)—were asked to complete a computerised
version of the attentional dot probe paradigm similar to that used by MacLeod, Mathews,
and Tata (1986). Results provided no support for an attentional bias, either toward
depression-related words or threat words, in the depressed group. This finding is discussed
in the context of cognitive theories of anxiety and depression.
