Memory functioning was assessed in 25 primary fibromyalgia (FM) patients by comparing them with 22 major depressed patients and 18 healthy controls. A broad range of short- and long-term memory tasks were included. Both major depressed and FM patients were significantly impaired on long-term memory tasks requiring effortful processing, compared to healthy controls. When the depressive status of the fibromyalgia patients was accounted for, only the subsample with a lifetime major depressive disorder showed memory impairment as compared with the healthy controls.