Moderating role of mental imagery in the relationship between depressive tendency and the filtering efficiency of task-irrelevant emotional stimuli

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.1813

Abstract

Abstract:

Individuals with depressive tendency exhibit a working memory bias toward negative information. Reduced filtering efficiency, defined as the ability to prevent task-irrelevant information from entering working memory, may contribute to biased information processing. The present study investigated the moderating role of mental imagery in the relationship between depressive tendency and the filtering efficiency of task-irrelevant emotional stimuli. Study 1 used a filtering change detection task to investigate the associations among depression, emotional information filtering efficiency, and mental imagery vividness. Studies 2 and 3 further examined the effects of positive and negative mental imagery on the filtering efficiency of negative emotional information by requiring participants to imagine facial stimuli with different emotional valences before completing the working memory task. Results showed that depression was negatively associated with mental imagery ability and the filtering efficiency of negative information. Compared with neutral mental imagery, positive mental imagery increased the filtering efficiency of negative information for individuals with depressive tendency but not for controls. Conversely, negative mental imagery decreased the filtering efficiency of negative information in the control group but did not affect individuals with depressive tendency. These findings indicate that mental imagery moderates the relationship between depression and the filtering efficiency of task-irrelevant negative information. Specifically, positive mental imagery can guide individuals with depressive tendency to ignore task-irrelevant negative information, thereby improving their filtering efficiency. These findings provide a new perspective for early intervention for individuals at risk of depression.

Key words: depressive tendency, working memory, filtering efficiency, positive mental imagery, negative mental imagery

LI Hangyu, XU Heng, MU Yurong, YUAN Xiaowei, LI Shouxin, ZHANG Qian. (2026). Moderating role of mental imagery in the relationship between depressive tendency and the filtering efficiency of task-irrelevant emotional stimuli. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 58(9), 1813-1827.

Figures/Tables 13

Figure 1. Examples of facial stimuli with different emotional valences.

Figure 2. Schematic illustration of a single trial in Study 1. The memory display contained two neutral faces in the blue frame and two negative faces in the yellow frame. Participants remembered the neutral faces and ignored the negative faces. The probed face matched the previously presented face at the same location. For the probe display shown in the example, the correct response was “Yes”.

Figure 3. Filtering scores for task-irrelevant positive and negative emotional information across different groups.
Note: ** p < 0.01. Half-violin plots represent probability density distributions. Boxes indicate the upper and lower quartiles, with horizontal lines inside the boxes representing the median and diamonds representing the mean. Dots represent raw data points. The same notation applies to the following figures.

Table 1 Correlations among depression, anxiety, visual imagery vividness, and filtering scores (n =104)

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6
1 Depression	1
2 State anxiety	0.510^***	1
3 Trait anxiety	0.578^***	0.412^**	1
4 Visual imaginary vividness	?0.206^*	?0.274^**	?0.219^*	1
5 Positive filtering scores	?0.023	0.017	?0.063	?0.095	1
6 Negative filtering scores	0.244^*	0.131	?0.013	?0.205^*	0.437^**	1

Figure 4. Schematic illustration of the experimental procedure in Study 2.
Note. In the illustrated trial, participants first imagined a positive emotional face based on a neutral face cue and then rated the vividness of their mental imagery. They subsequently completed the working memory task, in which neutral faces presented within blue frames served as memory targets and negative faces presented within yellow frames served as distractors. For the probe display shown in the example, the correct response was “No.”

Table 2 Accuracy (M ± SD) on the working memory task in Study2 and Study3

Study	Condition	Group	Two neutral targets	Two neutral targets + Two negative distractors	Four neutral targets
Study2	Positive mental imagery	Depressive tendency	0.88±0.06	0.88±0.06	0.74±0.07
	Positive mental imagery	Control	0.92±0.05	0.93±0.06	0.75±0.09
	Neutral mental imagery	Depressive tendency	0.92±0.06	0.87±0.07	0.72±0.09
	Neutral mental imagery	Control	0.91±0.06	0.92±0.06	0.72±0.10
Study3	Negative mental imagery	Depressive tendency	0.90±0.08	0.86±0.10	0.72±0.10
	Negative mental imagery	Control	0.91±0.09	0.84±0.10	0.74±0.10
	Neutral mental imagery	Depressive tendency	0.89±0.07	0.87±0.05	0.75±0.09
	Neutral mental imagery	Control	0.87±0.06	0.90±0.05	0.76±0.10

Figure 5. Accuracy in Study 2.
Note. ** p < 0.01

Figure 6. Filtering scores for task-irrelevant negative emotional information across different groups under positive versus neutral mental imagery.
Note. ** p < 0.01

Figure 7. Accuracy in Experiment 3.
Note. * p < 0.05

Figure 8. Filtering scores for task-irrelevant negative emotional information across different groups under negative versus neutral mental imagery.
Note. ** p < 0.01

Supplementary Table 1. Valence and Arousal scores (M ± SD) for neutral faces

	Valence	Awakeness
Neutral face 1	4.37±0.67	3.58±2.36
Neutral face 2	4.68±0.58	4.05±2.27
Neutral face 3	4.89±0.57	3.47±2.22
Neutral face 4	4.84±1.07	3.47±2.04
Neutral face 5	5.26±0.87	3.84±1.95
Neutral face 6	4.89±0.57	3.53±1.81
Neutral face 7	5.00±0.67	3.58±1.98
Neutral face 8	4.53±0.70	3.84±2.29
Neutral face 9	4.74±0.45	3.63±2.36
Neutral face 10	4.68±0.82	3.74±2.13
Neutral face 11	4.58±0.96	3.53±2.01
Neutral face 12	4.89±0.46	3.37±2.11

Supplementary Table 2 Valence and Arousal scores (M ± SD) for positive faces

	Valence	Awakeness
Positive face 1	7.53±1.22	6.95±1.68
Positive face 2	7.11±1.70	7.21±1.58
Positive face 3	7.47±1.54	7.16±1.71
Positive face 4	6.89±1.76	7.05±1.81
Positive face 5	7.74±1.48	7.89±1.15
Positive face 6	7.16±1.21	6.47±1.71
Positive face 7	5.84±1.71	5.05±2.22
Positive face 8	7.58±0.90	6.95±1.54
Positive face 9	7.16±1.21	6.89±1.52
Positive face 10	7.47±1.07	7.15±2.06
Positive face 11	7.00±0.82	6.42±1.92
Positive face 12	6.00±0.94	5.42±1.92

Supplementary Table 3 Valence and Arousal scores (M ± SD) for negative faces

	Valence	Awakeness
Negative face 1	2.53±0.70	6.68±1.53
Negative face 2	2.21±0.71	7.11±2.05
Negative face 3	2.16±0.96	7.00±1.60
Negative face 4	2.84±1.07	6.21±1.84
Negative face 5	3.00±1.24	6.63±1.98
Negative face 6	2.63±0.83	6.95±1.47
Negative face 7	1.58±0.61	7.32±1.95
Negative face 8	1.47±0.84	7.95±1.31
Negative face 9	2.16±0.76	7.37±1.34
Negative face 10	2.63±1.42	6.63±1.89
Negative face 11	2.05±0.85	7.32±1.38
Negative face 12	2.95±1.72	6.47±1.87

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