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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 13, 2026

Eye Tracking, Cortisol, and a Sleep vs. Wake Consolidation Delay: Combining Methods to Uncover an Interactive Effect of Sleep and Cortisol on Memory
08:08

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Published on: June 18, 2014

Association between cortisol awakening response and memory function in major depression.

K Hinkelmann1, C Muhtz, L Dettenborn

  • 1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medical Center, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany.

Psychological Medicine
|February 28, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Antidepressant medication may reduce the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and improve memory in patients with major depression. Unmedicated patients showed higher CAR and poorer memory compared to medicated patients and healthy controls.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry
  • Endocrinology

Background:

  • Major depression is characterized by memory impairment and altered cortisol secretion.
  • The impact of antidepressant medication on the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and memory function in depression remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether CAR is elevated in depressed patients compared to healthy controls (HC).
  • To examine the association between CAR and memory function in medicated and unmedicated depressed patients.

Main Methods:

  • Study included 21 unmedicated depressed patients, 20 medicated depressed patients, and 41 HC.
  • Verbal and visuospatial memory were assessed using the Auditory Verbal Learning Task and Rey figure.
  • CAR was measured on two consecutive days.

Main Results:

  • Unmedicated patients exhibited a significantly greater CAR compared to medicated patients.
  • Depressed patients, particularly unmedicated ones, showed poorer verbal and non-verbal memory performance than HC.
  • A negative association was found between CAR and memory function in depressed patients, but not in HC.

Conclusions:

  • Antidepressant treatment was associated with a reduced CAR and preserved memory function compared to unmedicated depressed patients.
  • Findings suggest that antidepressants may normalize CAR and partially restore cognitive function in depression.