Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and Dementia

Autobiographical memories in young and elderly normal subjects are drawn mostly from the recent past but elderly subjects relate a second peak of memories from early adulthood. Memory for remote past public events is relatively preserved in dementia, possibly reflecting integrity of semantic relativ...

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Main Authors: Harvey J. Sagar, Edith V. Sullivan, Suzanne Corkin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1991-01-01
Series:Behavioural Neurology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/BEN-1991-4403
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author Harvey J. Sagar
Edith V. Sullivan
Suzanne Corkin
author_facet Harvey J. Sagar
Edith V. Sullivan
Suzanne Corkin
author_sort Harvey J. Sagar
collection DOAJ
description Autobiographical memories in young and elderly normal subjects are drawn mostly from the recent past but elderly subjects relate a second peak of memories from early adulthood. Memory for remote past public events is relatively preserved in dementia, possibly reflecting integrity of semantic relative to episodic memory. We examined recall of specific, consistent autobiographical episodes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) in response to cue words. Patients and control subjects drew most memories from the recent 20 years: episode age related to anterograde memory function but not subject age or dementia. Subjects also related a secondary peak of memories from early adulthood; episode age related to subject age and severity of dementia. The results suggest that preferential recall of memories from early adulthood is based on the salience of retrieval cues, altered by age and dementia, superimposed on a temporal gradient of semantic memory. Further, AD shows behavioural similarity to normal ageing.
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spelling doaj-art-373b4e179abd482f969cb61a4292968e2025-08-20T02:07:41ZengWileyBehavioural Neurology0953-41801875-85841991-01-014423524810.3233/BEN-1991-4403Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and DementiaHarvey J. Sagar0Edith V. Sullivan1Suzanne Corkin2Department of Brain and Cognitive Science and Clinical Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USADepartment of Brain and Cognitive Science and Clinical Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USADepartment of Brain and Cognitive Science and Clinical Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USAAutobiographical memories in young and elderly normal subjects are drawn mostly from the recent past but elderly subjects relate a second peak of memories from early adulthood. Memory for remote past public events is relatively preserved in dementia, possibly reflecting integrity of semantic relative to episodic memory. We examined recall of specific, consistent autobiographical episodes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) in response to cue words. Patients and control subjects drew most memories from the recent 20 years: episode age related to anterograde memory function but not subject age or dementia. Subjects also related a secondary peak of memories from early adulthood; episode age related to subject age and severity of dementia. The results suggest that preferential recall of memories from early adulthood is based on the salience of retrieval cues, altered by age and dementia, superimposed on a temporal gradient of semantic memory. Further, AD shows behavioural similarity to normal ageing.http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/BEN-1991-4403
spellingShingle Harvey J. Sagar
Edith V. Sullivan
Suzanne Corkin
Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and Dementia
Behavioural Neurology
title Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and Dementia
title_full Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and Dementia
title_fullStr Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and Dementia
title_full_unstemmed Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and Dementia
title_short Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and Dementia
title_sort autobiographical memory in normal ageing and dementia
url http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/BEN-1991-4403
work_keys_str_mv AT harveyjsagar autobiographicalmemoryinnormalageinganddementia
AT edithvsullivan autobiographicalmemoryinnormalageinganddementia
AT suzannecorkin autobiographicalmemoryinnormalageinganddementia