Abstract
We investigated remote memory in 9 patients with mild and 9 with moderate dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT). For this purpose, we used a modified version of assessment of autobiographical memory described by Kopelman et al (1989). Public events memory was evaluted using the Dead/Alive test (Kapur et al 1989) , applying to Japanese personalities. Performance on both autobiographical memory and Dead/Alive test showed a temporal gradient with better retention of more remote information in both groups. These findings provide evidence of the temporal gradient in cases of mild and moderate DAT. The mild DAT differed significantly from the moderate DAT in autobiographical memory test results, but there was no dissociation among these two kinds of DAT groups with regard to the Dead/Alive test results. These results may not only be attributed to a simple difference in the conditions of responses on the two tests (recall or recognition) , but rather to a greater impairment of the complex hierarchical organization of autobiographical memory in the moderate relative to the mild DAT cases.
