THE FRACTIONATION OF REMOTE MEMORY - EVIDENCE FROM A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF DEMENTIA OF ALZHEIMER-TYPE

We studied remote memory, both autobiographical and public, longitudin ally over a 1-year period in 24 patients with dementia of Alzheimer ty pe (DAT) and 30 matched controls. Although both public and autobiograp hical memory were impaired in DAT, public memory deteriorated longitud inally, while autobiographical memory did not. These data support the hypothesis that remote memory may be fractionated and that one importa nt dichotomy is autobiographical memory versus famous person knowledge . A cognitive analysis of famous face and name processing showed evide nce of progressive breakdown in the identification of famous faces and names, with preservation efface and name recognition, and face naming . The declining performance on identification appeared to be due prima rily to loss of semantic knowledge regarding famous persons, while a r etrieval deficit contributed more significantly to the proper name ano mia which was over and above the semantic deficit in DAT.