SynthesisNeuropsychology review2018
A meta-analysis of the effects of antidepressants on cognitive functioning in depressed and non-depressed samples.
Synthesis in Neuropsychology review, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
86 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 184 citations in OpenAlex.
- Executive functioning in adolescents with internalizing disorders: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Change in Cognitive Function over the Course of Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2025Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Cognition in Cervical Dystonia.Neuropsychology review · 2024Pooled it
- Neuropsychological Assessments of Cognitive Impairment in Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis with Meta-Regression.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Interictal Cognitive Deficits in Migraine Sufferers: A Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2022Pooled it
- The Relationship Between Cognitive Functioning and Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Adults with a Traumatic Brain Injury: a Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2022Pooled it
- The relationship between immune and cognitive dysfunction in mood and psychotic disorder: a systematic review and a meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Depression and episodic memory across the adult lifespan: A meta-analytic review.Psychological bulletin · 2021Pooled it
- Driving Performance Under Treatment of Most Frequently Prescribed Drugs for Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review of Patient Studies.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Neuropsychological Assessment and Screening in Heart Failure: a Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.Neuropsychology review · 2021Pooled it
- Depression and Cognitive Control across the Lifespan: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2020Pooled it
- Corticosteroids and Cognition: A Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2019Pooled it
- The behavioural effects of the serotonin 1A receptor agonist buspirone on cognition and emotional processing in healthy volunteers.Psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Effects of 28-day simvastatin administration on emotional processing, reward learning, working memory, and salivary cortisol in healthy participants at-risk for depression: OxSTEP, an online experimental medicine trial.Psychological medicine · 2025Trial
- A Randomized Controlled Study of Efficacy and Cognitive Function Improvement of Vortioxetine and Escitalopram in Patients with Depression in Chinese Han Nationality.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2024Trial
- Evaluating cognitive disturbances as treatment target and predictor of antidepressant action in major depressive disorder: A NeuroPharm study.Translational psychiatry · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Cue-induced inhibitory control in forensic patients with alcohol use disorder: A link to criminal recidivism risk assessed by factor 2 psychopathy.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- Neuropsychological Correlates of Anxiety in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Comparison with Controls Without a Psychiatric Diagnosis.Brain sciences · 2026Article
26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A thorough understanding of the cognitive effects of antidepressant medications is essential given their frequency of use. This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate whether antidepressants differentially affect the various domains of cognitive functioning for depressed and non-depressed participants. An electronic search of PsycInfo, Medline and Google Scholar was conducted for all journal articles published between January 1998 and January 2017. Thirty-three studies were included enabling calculation of Hedges' g using a random effects model for the cognitive domains of divided attention, executive function, expressive language, immediate memory, perceptual motor skills, processing speed, recent memory, sustained attention, visuospatial-constructional skills and working memory. Results revealed that overall, antidepressants have a modest, positive effect on divided attention, executive function, immediate memory, processing speed, recent memory and sustained attention for depressed participants. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's) were found to have the greatest positive effect on cognition for depressed participants, as compared to the other classes of antidepressants analysed. Antidepressants did not significantly affect cognitive function in non-depressed participants.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.