title: Poorer mental health is associated with cognitive deficits in old age.
abstract: Few studies have examined the association between within-person (WP) reaction time (RT) variability and mental health (depression, anxiety, and social dysphoria) in old age. Therefore, we investigated mental health (using the General Health Questionnaire) and cognitive function (mean RT or WP variability) in 257 healthy, community-dwelling adults aged 50-90 years (M = 63.60). The cognitive domains assessed were psychomotor performance, executive function, visual search, and recognition. Structural equation models revealed that for WP variability, but not mean RT, poorer mental health was associated with visual search and immediate recognition deficits in older persons and that these relationships were partially mediated by executive function. The dissociation between mean RT and WP variability provides evidence that the latter measure may be particularly sensitive to the subtle effects of mental health on cognitive function in old age.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health , University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bauermeister
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bunce
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: GHQ; age; cognitive function; mental health; within-person variability