Autobiographical memory compromise in Alzheimer's disease: a cognitive and clinical overview

Autobiographical memory refers to memory for personal information. The compromise of autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease (AD) results in a loss of knowledge about events and facts that defined the patients' life, and consequently, degradation of their self-knowledge and sense of identity. The compromise of autobiographical memory in AD can be attributed to a diminished subjective experience of memory and a diminished sense of the self. Our review provides a comprehensive overview of cognitive and clinical processes that may be involved in difficulties to retrieve autobiographical memories in Alzheimer's disease. Our review also proposes a theoretical model according to which, the diminished ability to retrieve contextual information and the over-generality of recall result in a diminished subjective experience of past and future thinking. Besides its theoretical contribution, our review proposes clinical applicability for evaluation and rehabilitation of autobiographical memory in AD.