Impaired visuospatial working memory but preserved attentional control in bipolar disorder

Barnes-Scheufler CV, Rösler L, Schiweck C, Peters B, Matura S, Mayer JS, Kittel-Schneider S, Schaum M, Reif A, Wibral M, Bittner RA (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Psychological Medicine Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Book Volume: 55

Article Number: e372

DOI: 10.1017/S0033291725102328

Abstract

Background. Deficits in working memory (WM) and attention have a considerable functional impact on people with bipolar disorder (PBD). Understanding the neurocognitive underpinnings of these cognitive constructs might facilitate the discovery of more effective pro-cognitive interventions. Therefore, we employed a paradigm designed for jointly studying attentional control and WM encoding. Methods. We used a visuospatial change-detection task using four Gabor Patches with differing orientations in 63 euthymic PBD and 76 healthy controls (HCS), which investigated attentional competition during WM encoding. To manipulate bottom-up attention using stimulus salience, two Gabor patches flickered, which were designated as either targets or distractors. To manipulate top-down attention, the Gabor patches were preceded by either a predictive or a non-predictive cue for the target locations. Results. Across all task conditions, PBD stored significantly less information in visual WM than HCS (significant effect of group). However, we observed no significant group-by-salience or group-by-cue interactions. This indicates that impaired WM was not caused by deficits in attentional control. Conclusions. While WM was disturbed in PBD, attentional prioritization of salient targets and distractors, as well as the utilization of external top-down cues, were not compromised. Thus, the control of attentional selection appears to be intact at least for our specific manipulation of this cognitive construct. These findings provide valuable clues for models of WM dysfunction in PBD by suggesting that later stages of WM encoding, such as WM consolidation, are likely primarily impaired, while selective attention is not a main source of impairment.

Involved external institutions

Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt am Main (KGU) DE Germany (DE) Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main DE Germany (DE) Leibniz-Institut für Resilienzforschung / Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR) DE Germany (DE) Georg-August-Universität Göttingen DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Barnes-Scheufler, C.V., Rösler, L., Schiweck, C., Peters, B., Matura, S., Mayer, J.S.,... Bittner, R.A. (2025). Impaired visuospatial working memory but preserved attentional control in bipolar disorder. Psychological Medicine, 55. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291725102328

MLA:

Barnes-Scheufler, Catherine V., et al. "Impaired visuospatial working memory but preserved attentional control in bipolar disorder." Psychological Medicine 55 (2025).

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