REMOTE MEMORY IN PARKINSONS-DISEASE AND SENILE DEMENTIA

Remote memory for public events was investigated in 14 demented patien ts with Parkinson's disease (PD), 14 nondemented PD patients, and 14 c ontrols. These groups were compared with 16 demented patients with dem entia that was due to Alzheimer or was of vascular origin (SDAVT), and with a group of elderly controls. The two demented groups were of a d ifferent age but displayed a comparable degree of dementia. Remote mem ory was assessed using a 'famous events' questionnaire with items both of comparable salience and difficulty. Results showed severely impair ed retrograde memory functions in the two demented groups for both rec all and recognition with non-demented PD patients performing similar t o the controls. Remote memory impairments extended 30-40 years without any temporal graded memory losses. Non-demented PD patients and contr ols showed an inferior free recall performance, especially for the rem ote past. The two PD groups benefited from recognition to the same ext ent as the controls, whereas the improvement for SDAVT patients was in ferior when compared to their elderly controls. In contrast to SDAVT p atients, anterograde memory was associated with remote memory for spec ific decades in demented PD patients. The results are interpreted with respect to an underlying retrieval deficit with a superimposed antero grade impairment common to both types of dementia and an additional lo ss of storage sites in SDAVT patients. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.