Influence of Age and Depression on Episodic Memory Functioning in Adulthood

Previous research suggests that depression in old age results in deficits in both encoding and retrieval in episodic memory tasks. There is also a general understanding that memory function declines with age, with older adults being the most affected. The focus of this data analysis is to examine a possible interaction between age and depression on episodic memory performance. A multiple regression approach was used to analyze previous data from CREATE I which includes a sample size of 1,204 participants between the ages of 18-91. Age and depressive affect had significant negative effects on episodic memory performance, and these two factors interacted, showing that depressive affect had little impact at young ages but increasingly affected those at older ages. Results suggest that interventions to reduce depressive affect in older populations may also contribute to improved episodic memory performance.