Young people with bipolar disorder have
been found, in a series of studies, to show
impaired cognitive flexibility as assessed by neuropsychological
tests such as the intradimensional/
extradimensional shift task of the Cambridge Neuropsychological
Testing Automated Battery [61–64].
There is also evidence that these difficulties are
specific to bipolar disorder and are not shown by
young people with SMD [62]. Cognitive flexibility
deficits may underpin aberrant reward processing
which in turn may partially explain manic and
depressive symptoms.