What can false memory tell us about memory impairments in Alzheimer's disease?  

作　　者：ZHANG Fan GENG HaiYan 

机构地区：[1]Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

出　　处：《Chinese Science Bulletin》2010年第35期3989-3997,共9页

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30870763);Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (7093123);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

摘　　要：The range of memory impairments associated with Alzheimer's disease(AD) has been a focus for psychological and clinical researchers for many years.In addition to investigations of AD patients' veridical memory using traditional recognition memory tasks,a number of recent studies have focused on false memories to reveal the underlying causes of memory impairment in AD.Studies comparing illusory memories between AD patients and healthy older people have revealed various differences in memory deficits between the development of AD and the typical aging processes.Here,we review 3 types of memory illusions tested in AD patients:associative memory illusions,fluency-based false memories and source memory errors.By comparing AD patients with healthy older adults,we sought to analyze the mechanisms underlying AD-related memory impairments at different stages of memory processing,including encoding,retrieval and monitoring.This comparison revealed that AD patients exhibit an impaired ability to establish and utilize gist representations at the encoding stage and impairments in processing on the basis of familiarity and recollection at the retrieval stage.Consequently,patients with AD have access to less information when making memory judgments.As a result,they become more susceptible to the effects of item fluency,which can be manipulated during the retrieval stage.Furthermore,with impaired source memory monitoring abilities,the capacity of AD patients to suppress memory illusions is compromised.Based on these findings,we propose that the study of false memories constitute a critical tool for elucidating the memory impairments involved in AD.Further explorations of these memory impairments will have practical significance for the diagnosis and treatment of AD in the future.The range of memory impairments associated with Alzheimer＇s disease （AD） has been a focus for psychological and clinical re- searchers for many years. In addition to investigations of AD patients＇ veridical memory using traditional recognition memory tasks, a number of recent studies have focused on false memories to reveal the underlying causes of memory impairment in AD. Studies comparing illusory memories between AD patients and healthy older people have revealed various differences in memory deficits between the development of AD and the typical aging processes. Here, we review 3 types of memory illusions tested in AD patients： associative memory illusions, fluency-based false memories and source memory errors. By comparing AD patients with healthy older adults, we sought to analyze the mechanisms underlying AD-related memory impairments at different stages of memory processing, including encoding, retrieval and monitoring. This comparison revealed that AD patients exhibit an impaired ability to establish and utilize gist representations at the encoding stage and impairments in processing on the basis of familiarity and recollection at the retrieval stage. Consequently, patients with AD have access to less information when making memory judgments. As a result, they become more susceptible to the effects of item fluency, which can be manipulated during the retrieval stage. Furthermore, with impaired source memory monitoring abilities, the capacity of AD patients to suppress memory illusions is compromised. Based on these findings, we propose that the study of false memories constitute a critical tool for elucidating the memory impairments involved in AD. Further explorations of these memory impairments will have practical significance for the diagnosis and treatment of AD in the future.

关 键 词：阿尔茨海默氏病 记忆障碍 虚假广告 监控能力 联想记忆 精神障碍 记忆能力 老年人 

分 类 号：TP18[自动化与计算机技术—控制理论与控制工程] TQ463.54[自动化与计算机技术—控制科学与工程]