Background While depression is known to involve a disturbance of mood, move
ment and cognition, its associated cognitive deficits are frequently viewed
as simple epiphenomena of the disorder.
Aims To review the status of cognitive deficits in depression and their put
ative neurobiological underpinnings.
Method Selective computerised review of the literature examining cognitive
deficits in depression and their brain correlates.
Results Recent studies report both mnemonic deficits and the presence of ex
ecutive impairment - possibly selective for set-shifting tasks - in depress
ion. Many studies suggest that these occur independent of age, depression s
everity and subtype, task 'difficulty', motivation and response bias: some
persist upon clinical 'recovery'.
Conclusions Mnemonic and executive deficits do not appear to be epiphenomen
a of depressive disorder. A focus on the interactions between motivation, a
ffect and cognitive function may allow greater understanding of the interpl
ay between key aspects of the dorsal and ventral aspects of the prefrontal
cortex in depression.
Declaration of interest This paper was supported by an Australian National
Health and Medical Research Council Program Grant (993208).