The Role of Depression in Verbal Memory Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to characterize the relationship between verbal memory and depression scores on the Personality Assessment Inventory following traumatic brain injury. Depression was associated with diminished delayed recall and recognition on the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II), even after controlling for a neuropsychological composite score and/or a measure of motivation (i.e., the TOMM). There was no relationship between depression and recall on Verbal Paired Associates or Logical Memory when controlling for the same covariates. The findings were most consistent with depressed subjects failing to utilize the semantic organization of the CVLT-II list to enhance their learning.

Keywords:

• Depression
• Memory
• Traumatic brain injury

Notes

d′ = discriminability.

*p < .05, **p < .01.

APR = Average Performance Rating; TOMM = Test of Memory Malingering; CVLT-II = California Verbal Learning Test-II; LM = Logical Memory; VPA = Verbal Paired Associates.

p < .05, **p < .01.

Note. Partial correlation coefficients control for both the Average Performance Rating and the Test of Memory Malingering scores. N = 53.

^a Non-parametric Spearman rank correlation coefficient, r _s .

*p < .05, **p < .01.

Partial correlation coefficients control for both the Average Performance Rating and the Test of Memory Malingering scores. N = 53. LM = Logical Memory; VPA = Verbal Paired Associates.

^a Non-parametric Spearman rank correlation coefficient, r _s .

*p < .05, **p < .01.