Psychiatry Research
Volume 120, Issue 1 , Pages 71-84, 30 August 2003

Distinct serial position profiles and neuropsychological measures differentiate late life depression from normal aging and Alzheimer's disease

  • Nancy S Foldi

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, Queens College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., NSB-E318, Flushing, NY 11367, USA
    • Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Winthrop-University, Hospital, Stony Brook School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +1-718-997-3253
    • ,
  • Adam M Brickman

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, Queens College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., NSB-E318, Flushing, NY 11367, USA
    • ,
  • Lynn A Schaefer

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, Queens College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., NSB-E318, Flushing, NY 11367, USA
    • Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Winthrop-University, Hospital, Stony Brook School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY, USA
    • ,
  • Margaret E Knutelska

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, Queens College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., NSB-E318, Flushing, NY 11367, USA

Received 6 December 2002; received in revised form 6 June 2003; accepted 13 June 2003.

Abstract 

Geriatric depression is associated with cognitive deficits that share similar features with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and normal aging. This study examined cognitive profiles and serial position effects in patients with geriatric depression (N=20) or AD (N=32) and in elderly controls (N=18). Groups were compared on two measures of serial position of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), scaled scores and regional scores. Newly devised regional scores measure the percentage of items recalled as a function of the possible number of items presented from three regions of the list. Regional scores significantly differentiated depressed from control groups, with reduction of recalled items from the middle region. Scaled scores distinguished the depression from the AD groups on primacy and recency regions, with the characteristic recency effect seen in the AD group. Deficits in regional scores of the middle region are discussed in the context of lower resources in depression.

Keywords:  Serial position effect, California Verbal Learning Test, Geriatric depression, Dementia

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PII: S0165-1781(03)00163-X

doi:10.1016/S0165-1781(03)00163-X

Refers to corrigendum:

  • Corrigendum to “Distinct serial position profiles and neuropsychological measures differentiate late life depression from normal aging and Alzheimer's disease” [Psychiatry Research 120 (2003) 71–84]

    Nancy S. Foldi, Adam M. Brickman, Lynn A. Schaefer, Margaret E. Knutelska
    Psychiatry Research 15 October 2003 (Vol. 120, Issue 3, Page 295)

Psychiatry Research
Volume 120, Issue 1 , Pages 71-84, 30 August 2003

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