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Covert versus overt self-recognition in late stage Alzheimer's disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 1997

SANDRA M. BOLOGNA
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148
CAMERON J. CAMP
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148 Now at Myers Research Institute, Menorah Park Center for the Aging.

Abstract

Some persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) lose the ability to recognize themselves, as when they cannot overtly recognize their reflection in a mirror. There is evidence, however, that covert or unconscious self-recognition might be displayed in such individuals. In this study, 3 persons with AD lacking the ability to overtly self-recognize demonstrated multiple instances of unconscious or covert self-recognition. A variety of interventions, inspired by research with prosopagnosics, was implemented to remediate this loss. Interventions enabled all participants to exhibit overt self-recognition, though each did so with the aid of a different intervention. In addition, successful overt self-recognition required a verbal probe and was entirely intervention-dependent: When the intervention was removed, overt self-recognition was lost. Results support a dissociation between explicit–declarative versus implicit–nondeclarative memory systems, and extends this dissociation into the realm of self-recognition in AD. (JINS, 1997, 3, 195–198.)

Type
CASE STUDY
Copyright
© 1997 The International Neuropsychological Society

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