The association between subjective memory complaints (SMCs) and objective memory performance (OMP) has been consistently reported as small, but how the dynamics of this association changes as a function of depressive symptoms and the individual's cognitive functioning level remains unclear. To explore this dynamic, this project used the bivariate dual change score approach to investigate the directionality of the SMC-OMP association in a sample of healthy older adults (N = 2,057) from the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project. The sample was assessed throughout ten years, in five timepoints, and the impact of education, depressive symptoms, and low-memory functioning was tested. Three dimensions of SMC were assessed: Frequency of Forgetting, Seriousness of Forgetting, and Retrospective Memory. For Frequency of Forgetting and Seriousness of Forgetting, the unidirectional models in which both subjective dimensions predicted subsequent changes in OMP showed the best fit to the data. The opposite direction was supported for Retrospective Memory, with OMP leading the association. However, significant coupling effects were not found between these pairs of constructs. After including depressive symptoms as a covariate, the Frequency of Forgetting significantly predicted subsequent changes in OMP (γ= -1.226, SE = 0.543). A similar result was found for the low-memory functioning group after the inclusion of depression, with the frequency of memory complaints predicting subsequent memory decline (γ = -1.026, SE = 0.112, p < 0.05). Our results do not support a predictive value of SMC for OMP without accounting for the influence of depressive symptoms and low-memory functioning in this longitudinal association.
Teles, M., & Shi, D. (2021). Longitudinal association between subjective and objective memory in older adults: a study with the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project sample. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 1-25.