Commentary: Information-processing in anxiety and depression – novel targets for translational research, a reflection on Lau and Waters (2017)

Abstract

Understanding psychopathology in the context of a developmental cognitive neuroscience approach entails the notion that specific individual differences in information processing can serve as both etiologic and maintaining factors in the development of specific disorders. It is posited that such mechanistic understanding of neurocognitive aberrations during development can then serve focused translational efforts in the form of cognitive bias modification treatments. In the review by Lau and Waters (this issue), an astute developmental model is suggested regarding the role of potential neurocognitive mechanisms in depression and anxiety in youth.