Objective: Numerous studies demonstrate that depressive symptoms are associated with poorer memory test performance in older adults. However, as most measures of depressive symptoms include items specific to subjective changes in cognitive function, it is unclear whether this association is due to symptom overlap or a more generalized effect of depression. We hypothesized that both subjective complaints of cognitive dysfunction and sadness would be associated with poorer performance on a validated memory measure.

Participants and Methods: Neurocognitive testing data from 110 older adults (M_age = 81.1 +/- 6.2, 67% female) participating in a speech and memory study were used for the current analyses. Participants completed the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Revised (HVLT-R) as part of this larger protocol. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to examine the potential associations between reported depressive symptoms and memory performance.

Results: Consistent with past work, higher total GDS score was significantly associated with poorer HVLT-R learning (r=-0.23, p=0.02) and recall (r=-0.20, p=0.04). When looking at specific items, the GDS item reflecting greater memory complaint was significantly positively associated with better HVLT-R delayed recall (r=0.20, p=0.04) while GDS item reflecting greater sadness was significantly associated with worse HVLT-R learning (r=-0.24, p=.01).

Conclusion: Analyses showed that both cognitive complaints and feelings of sadness were associated with poorer memory test performance in older adults. If replicated, such findings suggest that the relationship between depression and memory in past work is not specific to symptom overlap.