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Memories defining the self in Alzheimer’s disease
- Source :
- Memory. 27:698-704
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Informa UK Limited, 2018.
-
Abstract
- There is a debate over the extent to which personal identity or the self is preserved in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Autobiographical memory deficits at early stages of AD could contribute to altering patients' self. However, the nature of the relationship between autobiographical memory deficits and the self in AD has not been much investigated experimentally. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the integrative meaning of self-defining memories (SDMs) in early stages of AD and to analyse its relationship with the self-concept. The results showed that, when compared to the control group, AD patients less frequently extracted meaning from their SDMs and the meaning was less frequently tied to the self. Patients exhibited some altered aspects of the self-concept (i.e., complexity and strength), though some other components still persisted (i.e., valence and certainty). Correlation analyses showed that the impaired integrative meaning in the AD group was correlated with some changes in self-concept. We suggest that integrative meaning may act as a bridge between autobiographical memories and the self-concept, with reduced integration abilities appearing as a potential mechanism for the deterioration of the self-concept in AD.
- Subjects :
- Male
Memory, Episodic
media_common.quotation_subject
Disease
050105 experimental psychology
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Alzheimer Disease
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
In patient
Valence (psychology)
Potential mechanism
General Psychology
Aged
media_common
Autobiographical memory
Self
05 social sciences
Mental Status and Dementia Tests
Self Concept
Case-Control Studies
Mental Recall
Personal identity
Female
Psychology
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Cognitive psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14640686 and 09658211
- Volume :
- 27
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Memory
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....cea59bdf3177b2a1ac23b6fc01097390