Belief Updating Deficits in Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BackgroundPrior studies have found that depression is linked to alterations in belief updating, but the effect size of this association was heterogeneous and unclear. This preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis examines studies that measured depressive symptoms and alterations in belief updating, in both updating-to-positive and updating-to-negative information directions. MethodThe PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library electronic databases were searched for studies examining belief updating and depressive symptomatology, resulting in retrieval of 33 papers (N = 3431 individuals). Risk of bias was assessed using an adapted version of the Downs and Black checklist and risk for publication bias was assessed visually with funnel plots, as well as statistically with Egger’s test and Duval and Tweedie’s trim-and-fill procedure. Random effects models were used for calculating pooled effect sizes.ResultsWe found evidence for a small, significant association (r = -0.11) between depressive symptoms and deficits in updating-to-positive information, but not for updating-to-negative information. Heterogeneity in both models was low. Exploratory subgroup analyses pointed to significant differences in the updating-to-positive direction based on the paradigm used, but this was not significant in the updating-to-negative direction. There were few concerns regarding the risk of bias and no evidence suggesting publication bias. ConclusionsDepression is linked to a specific deficit in updating beliefs in response to positive, disconfirming information, whereas no association was found with updating beliefs in response to negative information.