EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION ON MEMORY PERFORMANCE AND METAMEMORY IN CHILDREN

Objective: To investigate the effects of depression on memory performa nce and metamemory in children. Method: Performance on automatic memor y tasks (frequency of occurrence), effortful memory tasks (Children's Auditory Verbal Learning Test), and a Metamemory Battery were examined in 21 unmedicated, depressed children and 21 nondepressed controls (m atched for age, gender, and full-scale IQ). Subjects were divided into three groups based on depression severity (high depressed, low depres sed, nondepressed). Results: High depressed patients demonstrated perf ormance deficits relative to nondepressed and low depressed children o n the Children's Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Immediate Recall trial . Both groups of depressed children performed more poorly on the Metam emory Battery when compared to nondepressed children. Severity of depr ession differentiated overall performance. Metamemory performance of d epressed subjects indicates possible difficulty with overestimation of memory abilities. No differences were found on automatic memory task performance. Conclusions: Memory impairment in depression varies as a function of severity and may be evident only when a certain level of d epression is reached. Overestimation of memory ability by depressed ch ildren may be an attempt to compensate for feelings of inadequacy or i nferiority. It may also lead depressives to use poor judgment in selec ting appropriate solutions for problems. Targeting these cognitive dis tortions could be a focal point of clinical and educational interventi ons.