Response inhibition and everyday memory complaints in older adult women.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association of executive functions to the everyday memory complaints of healthy older adults. METHODS: Ninety-nine community-dwelling women aged 60 and above were administered a battery that included neuropsychological tests of executive functions and memory, along with self-report measures of everyday memory complaints, depression, and anxiety. RESULTS: Multivariate regression analyses revealed that a measure of response inhibition (Stroop Color-Word) accounted for unique variance in predicting memory complaints above and beyond measures of episodic memory, depression, and anxiety. Depression, however, accounted for the largest variance in memory complaints. CONCLUSIONS: Higher frequency of everyday memory complaints among older adults was associated with decreased response inhibition independent of episodic memory and affective state. Further research is needed to understand the interrelationships among these and other predictors of everyday memory complaints.

Duke Scholars

Author Guy Glenn Potter Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Adult Psychiatry & Psychol ...