The influence of age and depression on intellectual and memory performances.

Since we know that both aging and depression impair intellectual functioning, a question arises about specificity of impairment in each condition. Intellectual and memory performances (WAIS, visual and verbal tests, attention task) were correlated on the one hand with a mood score (BfS) and one the other with age in a group of 101 men (age: 49 to 86; means = 59). We found that: 1 degree some intellectual tasks are more impaired by depression than by aging; 2 degrees the digit symbol substitution test (WAIS) and the V.R.T. scores (Benton) are correlated with both mood and age; 3 degrees a weakened mental control appears among the older patients.