Longitudinal association between subjective and objective memory in older adults: a study with the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project sample

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. Method: using the bivariate dual change score approach, the present study investigated 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, five-time points, and the impact of education, depressive symptoms, and low-memory functioning were tested. Three dimensions of SMC were assessed: Frequency of Forgetting, Seriousness of Forgetting, and Retrospective Memory. Results: 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. For Retrospective Memory, the opposite direction was supported, with OMP leading the association. However, significant coupling effects were not found between these pairs of constructs. After including depressive symptoms as a covariate, 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.