Recognition Memory in Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

A compelling feature of human memory is its striking capacity. Under certain circumstances, subjects can remember large amounts of information even with brief exposure at study. This investigation shows that this ability is preserved even in severely impaired Alzheimer’s disease patients, and this holds implications for the clinical management of amnesic patients. To this date, demonstrations of preserved learning and memory capacity in Alzheimer’s disease and amnesia have been confined to implicit memory tasks. Since the present results were obtained in an explicit memory task, the finding also holds implications for the understanding of amnesia.

Yes/No Versus Forced-Choice Recognition Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease: Patterns of Impairment and Associations with Dementia Severity

“…The episodic memory deficit is usually portrayed by poor performance on recall and recognition measures indicative of impairment in encoding and storing information. Although recognition memory is often perceived as either spared or impaired following brain dysfunction, it can be assessed using a variety of procedures (e.g., yes/no, multiple choice, forced choice) yielding significantly different results (Bennett, Golob, Parker, & Starr, 2006; Karlsson, Johansson, Adolfsson, Nilsson, & Dubuc, 2003; Westerberg et al, 2006). Importantly, various methods of assessing episodic memory dysfunction may be sensitive to different underlying cognitive constructs and neuropathological processes (Jernigan, Ostergaard, & Fennema-Notestine, 2001).…”

“…However, studies have demonstrated that individuals are capable of recognizing substantial levels of information when forced-choice procedures are employed (Christensen, Kopelman, Stanhope, Lorentz, & Owen, 1998; Karlsson et al, 2003). Furthermore, in our clinical practice we have noted that individuals with mild AD tend to perform well on the forced-choice condition of the California Verbal Learning Test–Second Edition (CVLT–II), whereas patients with moderate-to-severe AD often do not.…”