Further evidence of preserved memory function in Alzheimer's disease |
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| Authors: | L. C. Scott G. K. Wright G. S. Rai A. N. Exton-Smith J. M. Gardiner |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Academic Department of Psychiatry, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG, UK;2. Department of Geriatric Medicine, Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, London SW15 5PN, UK;3. Department of Geriatric Medicine, Whittington Hospital, Highgate Hill, London N19 5NF, UK;4. Memory & Cognition Research Group, City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK |
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| Abstract: | Memory performance of elderly patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (DAT) was compared with that of elderly control subjects. In explicit tests of recognition memory, which involve conscious recollection, the DAT patients were grossly impaired. In implicit tests of anagram solution and wordstem completion, which do not require conscious recollection, the DAT patients were not impaired. These findings further support the idea that a separate memory system, episodic memory, underlies conscious recollection, that it is this system which is most commonly damaged in amnesia, and that memory systems not involving conscious recollection may be spared in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. |
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| Keywords: | Alzheimer's disease memory function |
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