Self‐report of seriousness of forgetting predicts objective memory ability in older adults with subjective cognitive decline

Abstract Background Previous work in subjective cognitive decline (SCD) suggests that subjective memory and other cognitive concerns are more likely to be associated with mood or anxiety, rather than objective memory performance, but the overall literature is inconsistent. In the current study, subjective memory profiles were characterized to examine differences amongst SCD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and cognitively unimpaired (CU) older adults and to determine their association with mood, anxiety, and objective memory in SCD. Methods Participants were 33 MCI [17F, age 72.3(SD6.7)], 71 SCD [49F, age 71.1(SD6.3)] and 42 CU [27F, age 70.6(SD6.8)] free of lifetime history of psychiatric illness and neurological conditions. They completed the Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ), a measure of subjective memory according to Frequency of Forgetting (FF), Seriousness of Forgetting (SF), Retrospective Functioning (RF), and Mnemonics Usage (MU), with higher scores indicating better subjective memory; as well as Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) and NEO Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI). Multivariate ANOVA was used to examine group differences in MFQ, followed by post hoc comparisons using Dunnett’s test. Relationships between MFQ and mood and anxiety measures within groups were assessed using Pearson’s correlation. Linear regression modelling with subjective memory and mood/anxiety as predictors of performance on the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) was conducted in SCD. Results Groups differed in total MFQ, FF, and SF, with total MFQ reduced in MCI and SCD. However, FF and SF were decreased in MCI and SCD respectively. SF was inversely associated with NEO‐FF neuroticism in CN, and with HAI in MCI participants. Within SCD, both SF and FF were inversely associated with NEO‐FFI neuroticism, HAI, STAI‐trait, and GDS. Further, SF, but neither FF nor any mood or anxiety measure, predicted CVLT immediate and long delayed recall in SCD. Conclusions Consistent with previous research, perception of poorer subjective memory was correlated with greater anxiety and depression symptoms in SCD. Despite these associations, subjective memory, as characterized by perceived seriousness of memory slips, was predictive of objective memory in SCD. These findings highlight the need to better understand the phenomenology of subjective memory in SCD.

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