Rensen Yvonne C M, Kessels Roy P C, Migo Ellen M, Wester Arie J, Eling Paul A T M, Kopelman Michael D
a Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour , Radboud University , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
b Centre of Excellence for Korsakoff and Alcohol-Related Cognitive Disorders , Vincent van Gogh Institute for Psychiatry , Venray , The Netherlands.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2017 Aug;39(6):534-546. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2016.1248811. Epub 2016 Nov 10.
The temporal gradient in patients with Korsakoff's syndrome has been of particular interest in the literature, as many studies have found evidence for a steep temporal gradient, but others have observed more uniform remote memory impairment across all past time periods. Inconsistencies might be the result of the nature of remote memory impairment under study (i.e., nonpersonal or autobiographical memory) and of methodological differences in the examination of remote memory loss. The aim of this study was to examine whether differences between autobiographical memory interview (AMI) and autobiographical interview (AI) procedures influence the presence of a temporal gradient in semantic and episodic autobiographical memory in Korsakoff patients.
The procedure used in the present study combined the AMI and AI into one study session. We compared the performance of 20 patients with Korsakoff's syndrome and 27 healthy controls. First, participants were asked to recall knowledge from different life periods. Second, participants were asked to recall memories from five life periods. Thirdly, participants were asked to rate their subjective experience of each event recalled on a 5-point scale. Finally, we analyzed the findings in terms of all the memories recalled versus the first memory from each life-period only.
Both the AMI and the AI showed a temporally graded retrograde amnesia in the Korsakoff patients for personal semantic and episodic autobiographical memories. The pattern of amnesia in Korsakoff patients was not affected by examining only one event per life-period. Subjective ratings of recalled memories were largely comparable between the groups.
The findings were generally consistent across the AMI and AI. Varying the number of events did not affect the pattern of the gradient. Hence, the temporal gradient in Korsakoff patients is not an artefact of either the AMI or the AI method.
科尔萨科夫综合征患者的时间梯度在文献中备受关注，因为许多研究发现了明显时间梯度的证据，但其他研究则观察到在所有过去时间段内存在更均匀的远期记忆损害。不一致可能是由于所研究的远期记忆损害的性质（即非个人或自传体记忆）以及检查远期记忆丧失的方法学差异所致。本研究的目的是检验自传体记忆访谈（AMI）和自传体访谈（AI）程序之间的差异是否会影响科尔萨科夫综合征患者语义和情景自传体记忆中时间梯度的存在。
本研究采用的程序将AMI和AI合并为一个研究环节。我们比较了20名科尔萨科夫综合征患者和27名健康对照者的表现。首先，要求参与者回忆不同生活阶段的知识。其次，要求参与者回忆五个生活阶段的记忆。第三，要求参与者用5分制对所回忆的每个事件的主观体验进行评分。最后，我们根据所回忆的所有记忆与每个生活阶段的第一个记忆进行分析。
AMI和AI在科尔萨科夫综合征患者的个人语义和情景自传体记忆方面均显示出时间梯度性逆行性遗忘。仅检查每个生活阶段的一个事件，并未影响科尔萨科夫综合征患者的遗忘模式。两组之间对所回忆记忆的主观评分大致相当。
AMI和AI的研究结果总体上是一致的。改变事件数量并不影响梯度模式。因此，科尔萨科夫综合征患者的时间梯度不是AMI或AI方法造成的假象。
