Metamemory in Alzheimer's Disease

Alois Alzheimer's first publication describes his patient's inability to be aware of her condition. One hundred years later, whether or not Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients show impaired awareness of their memory deficits is still of debate. This review makes a novel contribution, ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cortex 2007-10, Vol.43 (7), p.987-1003
Main Author: Souchay, Céline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agnosia - complications
Agnosia - physiopathology
Agnosia - psychology
Alzheimer Disease - complications
Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology
Alzheimer Disease - psychology
Alzheimer's disease
anosognosia
Humans
Memory - physiology
Memory Disorders - complications
Memory Disorders - physiopathology
Memory Disorders - psychology
Mental Status Schedule
metamemory
Models, Psychological
Neuropsychological Tests
Self Concept
Self-Assessment
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Summary:Alois Alzheimer's first publication describes his patient's inability to be aware of her condition. One hundred years later, whether or not Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients show impaired awareness of their memory deficits is still of debate. This review makes a novel contribution, arguing that the ideal empirical tool to assess this question is the metamemory framework. The fact that the metamemory framework offers models of healthy memory and metamemory function and ready-developed measures mapped onto theoretical constructs, means that it is a useful paradigm to explore the question of memory awareness. The review focuses on two as yet separate approaches: the neuropsychological models of anosognosia as well as the metamemory framework. Metamemory constructs and measures are used to evaluate Alzheimer's patients' awareness of their memory difficulties by relating the main findings to the existing neuropsychological model of anosognosia. With this approach, only very specific deficits in awareness are found: a failure to update self-beliefs, and a deficit in monitoring episodic memory, possibly related to a deficit in effortful, conscious control processes. This review also considers how the exploration of the neural correlates of metamemory can help to draw novel hypotheses on the brain regions implicated in anosognosia in AD.
ISSN:0010-9452
1973-8102
DOI:10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70696-8