Cognitive bias modification for depression

• Cognitive bias modification examines the causal status of information processing bias.
• We review current state-of-the-art on CBM in depression.
• CBM is used to change attention, interpretation, and memory processes.
• Current findings indicate that processing biases can be changed through CBM.
• Clinical effects of CBM are mixed and limited.

The past decades have witnessed intense research on valence-specific information processing biases in depression. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) is a technique that attempts to experimentally modify processing biases through extended computerized training to understand their causal role in the maintenance of depression. Moreover, reducing maladaptive processing biases has clinical potential. The current paper discusses the current state-of-the-art on CBM at the level of attentional, interpretive and memory processes. Despite strong research progress in this area and several encouraging findings it is clear that further work is needed both at the conceptual as well as at the clinical level to further optimize the understanding of the causal role and malleability of processing biases in depression.