Mind the Age Gap: A Comprehensive Examination of Apathy, Depression, and Cognition in Young Adults

Apathy and depression are associated with poorer cognition in healthy older adults. We examined the relationship between apathy and depression with cognition in young adults (n = 96) from a bilingual university in Ontario. Participants completed measures of apathy, depression, executive function (EF), working memory (WM), autobiographical memory, neutral verbal memory, and memory for affective images. Apathy was present in 22% of the sample. Apathy in young adults was not related to performance in EF, WM, neutral memory, or memory for affective images after adjusting for depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were also not related to neuropsychological performance. However, high levels of depressive symptoms predicted greater recall of negatively valenced than positively valenced images, t(64) = 2.34, p = .022, and specific autobiographical memories (AM), t(93) = 2.47, p = .015. These findings support the notion that mild-to-moderate symptoms of depression and apathy exert a minimal to negligible impact on EF, WM, and memory in young, educated adults. As a result, neuropsychologists who assess cognition in this population are encouraged to explore reasons other than psychopathology to explain deficits, particularly when evaluating clients who report mild affective or mood symptoms. Future research in this area should incorporate additional EF measures and individuals with severe apathetic symptomatology in order to refine our understanding of specific indices that may be differentially impacted by apathy. Public Significance Statement Apathy (low motivation) has been shown to be negatively related to cognitive and functional abilities in older adults. We found that apathy is present in educated young adults (22%), but neither apathy nor depressive symptoms were related to poorer cognition. Neuropsychologists are encouraged to explore reasons other than psychopathology to explain cognitive difficulties in individuals reporting mild-to-moderate affective or mood symptoms.

Automated summary

Apathy and depression were not associated with poorer cognition in young adults. However, high levels of depressive symptoms predicted greater recall of negatively valenced images and specific autobiographical memories.