Addis Donna Rose, Sacchetti Daniel C, Ally Brandon A, Budson Andrew E, Schacter Daniel L
Department of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Neuropsychologia. 2009 Oct;47(12):2660-71. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.05.018. Epub 2009 Jun 2.
Recent neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that both remembering the past and simulating the future activate a core neural network including the medial temporal lobes. Regions of this network, in particular the medial temporal lobes, are prime sites for amyloid deposition and are structurally and functionally compromised in Alzheimer's disease (AD). While we know some functions of this core network, specifically episodic autobiographical memory, are impaired in AD, no study has examined whether future episodic simulation is similarly impaired. We tested the ability of sixteen AD patients and sixteen age-matched controls to generate past and future autobiographical events using an adapted version of the Autobiographical Interview. Participants also generated five remote autobiographical memories from across the lifespan. Event transcriptions were segmented into distinct details, classified as either internal (episodic) or external (non-episodic). AD patients exhibited deficits in both remembering past events and simulating future events, generating fewer internal and external episodic details than healthy older controls. The internal and external detail scores were strongly correlated across past and future events, providing further evidence of the close linkages between the mental representations of past and future.
近期的神经影像学研究表明，回忆过去和模拟未来都会激活一个包括内侧颞叶在内的核心神经网络。该网络的区域，尤其是内侧颞叶，是淀粉样蛋白沉积的主要部位，并且在阿尔茨海默病（AD）中结构和功能受损。虽然我们知道这个核心网络的一些功能，特别是情景性自传体记忆，在AD中会受损，但尚无研究考察未来情景模拟是否同样受损。我们使用自传体访谈的改编版本，测试了16名AD患者和16名年龄匹配的对照者生成过去和未来自传体事件的能力。参与者还从整个生命周期中生成了五个遥远的自传体记忆。事件记录被分割成不同的细节，分为内部（情景性）或外部（非情景性）。AD患者在回忆过去事件和模拟未来事件方面均表现出缺陷，生成的内部和外部情景细节比健康的老年对照者少。过去和未来事件的内部和外部细节得分密切相关，这进一步证明了过去和未来心理表征之间的紧密联系。
