title: Impaired working memory in geriatric depression: an FMRI study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Older adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) experience poor cognitive and behavioral outcomes as MDD occurs in the context of other age-related brain changes. Patients with depression often have impairments on measures of frontal lobe functioning such as working memory. Understanding the effects of depression on cognitive functioning in older adults is important for the development of treatment strategies that focus on cognitive changes as well as mood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eleven older adults with current MDD and 12 nondepressed comparison participants (all aged 60 years and older) performed the N-back test of working memory during fMRI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Depressed older adults performed worse than nondepressed participants on the N-back task. Depressed older adults had decreased lateral frontal and parietal activation during the most difficult working memory load condition on the N-back compared with nondepressed older adults.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cognitive dysfunction in geriatric depression may be related to reorganization of brain networks involved in working memory.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT. Electronic address: Julie.Dumas@uvm.edu.
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dumas
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT; Center for Cognitive Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Geriatric Research Educational and Clinical Center, Tennessee Valley Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Nashville, TN.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Newhouse
mesh_terms: D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Geriatric depression; fMRI; working memory