Alzheimer's Day 2021: What types of memories are forgotten in this disease

 

World Alzheimer's Day 2021: Alzheimer’s disease, a type of neurodegenerative dementia that affects memory, is well known in Canada, where more than half a million people live with it. This number is expected to double in the next 10 years as the population ages.

Alzheimer’s disease strikes fear in people. They may blame it, in jest, when they forget to buy an item at the grocery store. They worry about it when they can’t recall the name of the actor in a movie. Or they may think about it when they see an elderly person who is disoriented. But do we really know what behaviours help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease?

As researchers at the Laboratory of Neuropsychology of Aging at the research centre of the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, we are studying this question. The answer isn’t simple.

Alzheimer’s disease affects memory. But memory is not a single entity, like a basket in which all our memories are piled together. So it’s important to recognize that there are different types of memory, and to what extent these are affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Read More