A further analysis of memory loss in dementia and depression in the elderly

Groups of normal, depressed and dementing elderly subjects were investigated for their ability to remember serially presented words and pictures in an immediate free recall design. Both the clinical groups showed memory loss, the demented being the more severe. A qualitative analysis of serial position curves suggests that whilst in depression there is probably a suppression of otherwise normal memory processes in dementia there is a more fundamental breakdown in the process itself.