Chapter 28 - Autobiographical memory as a diagnostic tool in aging

Abstract

Autobiographical memory consists of a person’s personal history and contributes to building a feeling of identity and continuity. Aging affects episodic autobiographical memory negatively, whereas semantic autobiographical memory is preserved or even enhanced in older adults. Although the performance of patients with amnesic mild cognitive impairment shows that their episodic memory is impaired, but their personal semantic memory remains relatively intact, in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a significant deterioration is observed in both semantic and episodic memory. First, an alteration is observed in the episodic aspects of the autobiographical memory, with the deficits extending to the semantic aspects in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Although there are different methods for evaluating autobiographical memory, most of them involve retrospective sampling of events within a given period of time (for example, the Autobiographical Memory Interview or Autobiographical Interview) or in response to a generic cue (for example, the Autobiographical Memory Test). The type of methodology used must be taken into account because it can influence the interpretation of the results obtained.