Memory and Metamemory Functioning Among Depressed Patients

Memory and metamemory functioning were studied among 30 adult patients suffering from major depression. The results indicate that, besides showing signs of cognitive slowing, the patients were especially vulnerable to visual memory impairment, whereas verbal, short-term memory, and recall by recognition were more often unaffected. The patients whose depression was characterized by physiological symptoms, such as loss of appetite and sleep disturbances, showed impairment in traditional short-term memory measures, whereas there was no firm connection between cognitive or behavioral depressive symptoms and memory functioning. The depressive patients' generalized view of their memory capability was strongly underestimated, whereas online metamemory accuracy by which one perceives and makes inferences about one's performance was adequate.