Slowing of memory-search performance in men with mild hypertension.

Previous reports have associated hypertension with a slowing of cognitive performance, although the component processes involved have not been identified. Our report compares the performance of 24 men with mild hypertension and 28 age-matched normotensive men on a test of short-term memory search in which the duration of component processes could be estimated. The results indicated that the rate of search through short-term memory was slower for the hypertensive than for the normotensives, whereas the duration of encoding and response processes was equivalent for the two groups. This hypertension-related slowing of memory comparison was independent of participants' error rates and education levels.