Exploring different routes of recovery from memory in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence for preserved long-term priming

Abstract

Studies investigating implicit memory in Alzheimer's disease suggest that priming abilities disappear over time. This study investigates long-term priming in Alzheimer's disease. A total of 20 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 20 controls underwent the Free and Cued Selective Reminding test. After a 30-minute delay, participants were submitted to a word identification task comprising the studied words and new words. The patients exhibited a long-term priming effect similar to that presented by the comparison group. Therefore, whereas explicit retrieval is definitely impaired in Alzheimer's disease, implicit processes allowing the retrieval of that same information operate relatively normally, including after a long delay.

Keywords:

• Implicit memory
• Delayed retrieval
• Dementia

The authors thank M. Paccalin, I. Migeon-Duballet, M.D. Lussier, and V. Cressot for referring patients with Alzheimer's disease.