Cognitive Processes, Self-Reports of Memory Functioning, and Mental Health Status in Older Adults

Abstract

A battery of cognitive tasks was administered to a group of community-dwelling older adults. They also completed questionnaires assessing their cognitive and memory functioning and mental health status. A person familiar with the participant completed the same set of questionnaires. Little or no association was observed among the laboratory-type cognitive tasks and the self-assessments of cognition and memory, but significant relationships were observed between self-reported mental health and both the cognitive tasks and the subjective memory assessments. However, significant others' assessments of the participants' cognitive and memory functioning were related to laboratory-assessed cognitive functioning. These results suggest that mental health status and both cognitive performance and self-reports of cognitive and memory functioning are linked. Results also suggest that significant others may be better judges of actual cognitive performance than are elders themselves.