COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, DEPRESSION AND THE SPECIFICITY OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY IN THE ELDERLY

Previous research has shown that both depressed (Williams & Scott, 198 8) and elderly (Winthorpe & Rabbitt, 1988) people have difficulties in being specific in autobiographical memory. However, no study has exam ined the joint impact of cognitive impairment and affective disturbanc e. In this preliminary study, 22 elderly people with memory complaints were tested with the Autobiographical Memory Test, the Brief Assessme nt Schedule Depression Cards, Geriatric Depression Scale and the Mini- Mental State Examination. Results showed that autobiographical specifi city decreased with increasing levels of cognitive impairment. Partici pants were more likely to produce overgeneral memories (omissions or g eneric memories) than extended or specific memories. There was little relation between severity of depression and specificity in autobiograp hical memory, consistent with previous suggestions that overgenerality in depression is a long-term cognitive style unaffected by slate depr ession (Brittlebank, Scott, Williams & Ferrier, 1993).