Cognitive processes, particularly in regard to negative content schemata, seem to play an instrumental role in the development and maintenance of depression. In order to better understand the nature of negative schemata in depressed individuals, both depressed and nondepressed subjects participated in two studies in which they were required to name the colors of tachistiscopically-presented depressed-, neutral-, and manic-content words. In the first study, subjects were prescreened using the Beck Depression Scale to determine presence of depression. Only depressed (4 and below on the scale) and nondepressed (9 and above on the scale) subjects were included in the study. Subjects were presentd 50 words and were told to name the colors in which each word was printed. Subsequently, the time interval (latency) between stimulus presentation and response was measured. In the second study, all subjects were nondepressed, but before being presented with the 50 words as in study one, they were exposed to either a positive, negative, or neutral mood induction. After the experiment the subjects completed the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist to assess the effects of the induction procedure. An analysis of the results showed that depressed subjects exhibited significantly longer color-naming response latencies for negative than for positive or neutral content words. Study two results indicated that the findings in study one were most likely not due to the effects of mood differences between the depressed and nondepressed subjects. (BL)