The impact of psychological disturbances on immediate memory

The current study tested the hypothesis that attention mediates the impact of psychological disturbances (i.e. depression, loss of self-control, and b izarre thinking) on immediate memory. A hypothesized model, in which psycho logical disturbances indirectly impacted immediate memory via attention, wa s tested using structural equations modeling (EQS). The participants includ ed heterogenous groups of brain-damaged and psychiatric subjects both with and without age-corrected observed variables. These groups did not vary wit h regard to the relationships within the model, and all models had good fit indices [comparative fit index (CFI) > 0.98]. Competing models with paths directly from psychological disturbances to verbal, spatial, and general im mediate memory were not significant, and these competing models did not res ult in a better fitting model. Therefore, the best fitting, most parsimonio us model was the hypothesized one. These results corroborate the hypothesis of an indirect relationship between psychological disturbances and immedia te memory via attention. (C) 2001 National Academy of Neuropsychology. Publ ished by Elsevier Science Ltd.