Perspectives on Episodic-like and Episodic Memory

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Reinhard ePietrowsky¹  Bettina M Pause¹  Armin eZlomuzica²  Ekrem eDere³  Kiyoka eKinugawa³  Jean eMariani³ 

[1] Heinrich-Heine University;Ruhr-University;Université Pierre et Marie Curie;

关键词: Alzheimer Disease;    Dissociative Disorders;    Mild Cognitive Impairment;    spatial memory;    Emotional Memory;    episodic memory;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00033

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Episodic memory refers to the conscious recollection of a personal experience that contains information on what has happened and also where and when it happened. Recollection from episodic memory also implies a kind of first-person subjectivity that has been termed autonoetic consciousness. Episodic memory is extremely sensitive to cerebral aging and neurodegenerative diseases. In Alzheimer’s disease deficits in episodic memory function are among the first cognitive symptoms observed. Furthermore, impaired episodic memory function is also observed in a variety of other neuropsychiatric diseases including dissociative disorders, schizophrenia and Parkinson disease. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to induce and measure episodic memories in the laboratory and it is even more difficult to measure it in clinical populations. Presently, the tests used to assess episodic memory function do not comply with even down-sized definitions of episodic-like memory as a memory for what happened, where and when. They also require sophisticated verbal competences and are difficult to apply to patient populations. In this review, we will summarize the progress made in defining behavioral criteria of episodic-like memory in animals (and humans) as well as the perspectives in developing novel tests of human episodic memory which can also account for phenomenological aspects of episodic memory such as autonoetic awareness. We will also define basic behavioral, procedural and phenomenological criteria which might be helpful for the development of a valid and reliable clinical test of human episodic memory.

【 授权许可】

Unknown