Allé Mélissa C, Joseph Christelle, Antoine Pascal
University of Lille, CNRS, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Lille, France.
Groupement de coopération médico-sociale, GCMS Grand Lille, Mouvaux, France.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2024;101(3):961-969. doi: 10.3233/JAD-240180.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by severe memory alterations, affecting especially memories of personal past events. Until now, autobiographical memory impairments have been characterized using formal memory assessments, requiring patients to strategically and deliberately recall past events. However, contrary to this highly cognitively demanding mode of memory recall, autobiographical memories frequently come to mind unexpectedly based on automatic associative processes. The involuntary recall of personal memories is effortless and possibly represents a preserved way for AD patients to remember past events.
This study aimed to investigate involuntary autobiographical memory in AD patients and compare the characteristics of these memories with those of healthy controls.
Involuntary autobiographical memory was measured in 24 AD patients and 24 matched control participants using self-report measures. Participants were asked to report the frequency with which involuntary autobiographical memories were experienced in their daily life and to describe and self-assess one example of an involuntary memory.
We showed that AD patients and control participants did not differ in terms of the frequency or subjective characteristics of their involuntary autobiographical memories in daily life, except for feelings of intrusiveness. Compared to control participants, AD patients reported their involuntary autobiographical memories as being more intrusive. In addition, more negative and vague involuntary autobiographical memories were associated with greater depressive symptoms.
These findings open up a new avenue for research to better understand the extent to which involuntary autobiographical memory might be preserved in AD patients and why these memories may in turn become intrusive to patients.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）的特征是严重的记忆改变，尤其影响个人过去事件的记忆。到目前为止，自传体记忆障碍一直通过正式的记忆评估来表征，这要求患者有策略地、刻意地回忆过去的事件。然而，与这种对认知要求很高的记忆回忆方式相反，自传体记忆常常基于自动联想过程意外地出现在脑海中。个人记忆的非自愿回忆毫不费力，可能是AD患者记住过去事件的一种保留方式。
本研究旨在调查AD患者的非自愿自传体记忆，并将这些记忆的特征与健康对照组进行比较。
使用自我报告测量法对24名AD患者和24名匹配的对照参与者进行非自愿自传体记忆测量。参与者被要求报告他们在日常生活中经历非自愿自传体记忆的频率，并描述和自我评估一个非自愿记忆的例子。
我们发现，AD患者和对照参与者在日常生活中非自愿自传体记忆的频率或主观特征方面没有差异，除了侵入感。与对照参与者相比，AD患者报告他们的非自愿自传体记忆更具侵入性。此外，更多消极和模糊的非自愿自传体记忆与更严重的抑郁症状相关。
这些发现为研究开辟了一条新途径，以更好地理解AD患者中非自愿自传体记忆可能保留的程度，以及为什么这些记忆反过来可能会对患者造成困扰。
