People at genetic risk for Alzheimer's Disease show intact knowledge of personal and general events.

What is it about?

People at risk for Alzheimer’s disease struggle with recalling memories of specific events (episodic memory) but it remains unclear whether they also have difficulties with personal and general knowledge (semantic memory). We used a new measure, the Semantic Autobiographical Interview, to evaluate these forms of memory in two groups of healthy older adults of similar age and education, one of which had increased genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease. People at risk for Alzheimer's Disease recalled fewer memories from specific life events (episodic memory), but a similar amount of details related to personal and general knowledge (semantic memory).

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Photo by Braňo on Unsplash

Photo by Braňo on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study confirms previous research findings, whereby people at increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's Disease were found to show difficulties with episodic memory. However, while these event-specific memories weaken in people at risk of Alzheimer's Disease, our findings also show that their personal and general knowledge behind life experiences is intact. To our knowledge, this is the first study comparing autobiographical interviews for episodic and semantic memory in this population. Our findings indicate that healthy older people at risk for Alzheimer's Disease generally maintain the "gist" of their personal experiences, even though they might struggle with small details when recalling specific life events.

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