Disentangling Trait and State Rumination: The Role of Cognitive Control in Rumination Termination
Abstract
Rumination, a cognitive vulnerability in depression, is thought to stem from deficits in cognitive control that hinder disengagement from repetitive negative thinking. As rumination is traditionally assessed via self-report tools that are prone to recall biases, the present study used an in-vivo measure of state-based rumination termination to examine the differential associations of cognitive control processes with state and trait rumination. A total of 129 participants from the community were categorised into low/high state ruminators as well as low/high trait ruminators. Participants completed computerised cognitive tasks measuring inhibition (Negative Affective Priming Task), set-shifting (Internal Shift Task), and updating (Emotional n-Back Task). Greater impairments in set-shifting were associated with increased difficulty disengaging from rumination on a state-based in-vivo task, but not with trait rumination on the Ruminative Responses Scale. No significant associations were found between inhibition or updating and either form of rumination. The present findings underscore the clinical utility of in-vivo methodologies for capturing the contextual nuances of rumination, often missed by static self- report tools. Moreover, the study contributes to the growing literature on cognitive mechanisms underlying state-based rumination, offering potential implications for developing targeted interventions to address this transdiagnostic feature in various mental health disorders.
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BibTeX
@misc{shi2026disentangling,
title = {{Disentangling Trait and State Rumination: The Role of Cognitive Control in Rumination Termination}},
author = {Krystin FOO Min Shi and Kean J. Hsu},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/qf7kj_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/qf7kj_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Disentangling Trait and State Rumination: The Role of Cognitive Control in Rumination Termination
AU - Krystin FOO Min Shi
AU - Kean J. Hsu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/qf7kj_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/qf7kj_v1/
AB - Rumination, a cognitive vulnerability in depression, is thought to stem from deficits in cognitive control that hinder disengagement from repetitive negative thinking. As rumination is traditionally assessed via self-report tools that are prone to recall biases, the present study used an in-vivo measure of state-based rumination termination to examine the differential associations of cognitive control processes with state and trait rumination. A total of 129 participants from the community were categorised into low/high state ruminators as well as low/high trait ruminators. Participants completed computerised cognitive tasks measuring inhibition (Negative Affective Priming Task), set-shifting (Internal Shift Task), and updating (Emotional n-Back Task). Greater impairments in set-shifting were associated with increased difficulty disengaging from rumination on a state-based in-vivo task, but not with trait rumination on the Ruminative Responses Scale. No significant associations were found between inhibition or updating and either form of rumination. The present findings underscore the clinical utility of in-vivo methodologies for capturing the contextual nuances of rumination, often missed by static self- report tools. Moreover, the study contributes to the growing literature on cognitive mechanisms underlying state-based rumination, offering potential implications for developing targeted interventions to address this transdiagnostic feature in various mental health disorders.
ER -