Research report
An analysis of memory dysfunction in major depression

https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-0327(95)00032-IGet rights and content

Abstract

15 patients suffering from DSM-III-R major depression were compared with 15 age-, sex-and intelligence-matched controls on a battery of memory tests, aimed at fractionating memory dysfunction in depression. Patients were unimpaired relative to controls on measures of short-term memory, recognition, semantic memory and implicit memory. There was no evidence of a hedonic bias in recall of positive vs. negatively valenced stimuli, nor was there any correlation between depression severity and level of memory impairment. Psychotic patients did not demonstrate greater memory impairment relative to nonpsychotic depressed patients. As a group, however, depressed patients demonstrated deficits in psychomotor speed and in free recall of material (both immediate and delayed). The selective recall deficit suggests that material has been encoded but that patients are particularly impaired with regard to search and retrieval processes.

References (47)

  • R. Breslow et al.

    Contributions of the depressive perspective to memory function in depression

    Am. J. Psychiatry

    (1981)
  • E.D. Caine et al.

    Cognitive function and the dexamethasone suppression test

    Am. J. Psychiatry

    (1984)
  • A. Calev et al.

    Retrieval from semantic memory using meaningful and meaningless constructs by depressed, stable bipolar and manic patients

    Br. J. Clin. Psychol.

    (1989)
  • S. Channon et al.

    Working memory in clinical depression: an experimental study

    Psychol. Med.

    (1993)
  • J.R. Crawford et al.

    Estimation of premorbid intellectual status in depression

    Br. J. Clin. Psychol.

    (1987)
  • J.-M. Danion et al.

    Explicit memory and repetition priming in depression. Preliminary findings

    Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

    (1991)
  • H. Davis

    Self-reference and the encoding of personal information in depression

    Cogn. Ther. Res.

    (1979)
  • R.S. Dean et al.

    Cognitive aspects of schizophrenia and primary affective depression

    Int. J. Neuropsychol.

    (1987)
  • E.B. Denny et al.

    Affective valence and memory in depression: dissociation of recall and fragment completion

    J. Abnorm. Psychol.

    (1992)
  • L. Duffy et al.

    Memory impairment in schizophrenia -a comparison with that observed in the alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome

    Psychol. Med.

    (1994)
  • C.L. Elliott et al.

    Clinical depression and implicit memory

    J. Abnorm. Psychol.

    (1992)
  • P. Flor-Henry et al.

    Neuropsychological in vestigation of schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychoses

  • W.N. Francis et al.

    Frequency Analysis of English Usage: Lexicon and Grammer

    (1982)
  • Cited by (158)

    • Neural correlates of working memory in first episode and recurrent depression: An fMRI study

      2018, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
    • Influence of anxiety symptoms on improvement of neurocognitive functions in patients with major depressive disorder: A 12-week, multicenter, randomized trial of tianeptine versus escitalopram, the CAMPION study

      2015, Journal of Affective Disorders
      Citation Excerpt :

      Neurocognitive functional impairment is frequently observed among depressed patients, and is already included as a diagnostic criterion for major depressive disorder (MDD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth (DSM-IV) and Fifth Editions (DSM-5) (Gualtieri et al., 2006). Since many studies have replicated the findings of Rush and colleagues (Rush et al., 1983), showing that depressed patients have more impairment in neurocognitive function than healthy control groups, especially on effort-demanding tasks, attention, and memory (Backman and Forsell, 1994; Fava, 2003; Ilsley et al., 1995; Pelosi et al., 2000; Tancer et al., 1990). The Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study indicated that approximately 90% of 2541 MDD patients had difficulty with concentration and decision making (Gaynes et al., 2007; Nierenberg et al., 2010).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text