Explicit and Implicit Memory in Late-Life Depression

Moderately depressed patients demonstrate a pattern of cognitive deficits suggestive of mild frontal dysfunction during recall tasks. Their retention of material over a delay period and their intact language skills indicate medial hippocampal function similar to controls. Subcortically mediated implicit memory is also at normal levels. These findings support current efforts to identify pathways of frontal and/or striatal compromise during depressive episodes.