Memory Complaints in Healthy Middle-Aged Adults Are Not Associated with Memory or Sustained Attention Performance

Abstract

Objective: To examine the associations between the number and type of memory complaints with memory and sustained attention performance in healthy middle-aged adults. Method: Sixty-six healthy individuals aged 35–64 years (Mage = 47.73 years) were administered the seven Questions, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Sustained Attention to Response Task, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21. Results: The number of memory complaints was not associated with memory or sustained attention performance but was associated with anxiety symptoms. The type of memory complaint was likewise not associated with memory or sustained attention performance. The complaints “recent change in ability to remember things” and “trouble remembering things from one second to the next” were associated with anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: Complaints about memory in otherwise healthy middle-aged adults do not reliably indicate memory or sustained attention performance. Rather, these complaints are more likely to be associated with heightened, but nevertheless subclinical, anxiety.