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Is Episodic Memory The Main Memory Affected By Alzheimer's Disease?

Posted on Wed, 15 Jun 2016

Question: Is episodic memory the main memory affected by alzeihmers/mci?

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
That's true.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXX,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com.
I am Dr.Ajay Panwar,a neurologist,here to answer your query.

Yes.That's absolutely correct that episodic memory is the main memory impaired in alzheimer's disease.MCI is the initial phenotype of the same spectrum.

Hope that helps.If you have some specific questions in this regard,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up for the same.

Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ajay Panwar (30 hours later)

Is episodic memory the memory of daily events? (i.e conversations, what you ate, where you sat at the cinema etc) if that's correct then my episodic memory is very good. But ive been having trouble remembering names and words which is why im worried about alzheimer's. Is the memory of names and words episodic or is that different?

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
This is not Alzheimer's disease.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.

Episodic memory is earliest to get impaired in Alzheimer's disease.In fact,this may be just physiological at your age.Alzheimer is not a disease of young.You must be having just subjective symptoms.

Forgetting the names(anomia) and words are a part of semantic memory loss,however,it is mostly subjective in younger age group.Still,if you are worried,I suggest you to get a formal neurological evaluation/cognitive assessment done by a Neurologist.

Hope that helps.If you have some further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up else please close the thread,rate it and write a review.

Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ajay Panwar (15 hours later)

So for example would the Rey auditory verbal learning test really be a semantic memory test?

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (16 hours later)

Brief Answer:
No.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.

No,Rey auditory verbal learning test is not a test for semantic memory. Infact,that checks more of immediate and short term memory.

Semantic battery testing may involve picture naming,category generation,matching pictures with spoken words & various other tests.

Hope that helps.If you have some further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up.

Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ajay Panwar (1 hour later)

I must clarify. When I said I forget names and words I mean I have trouble learning names and words. Would that be episodic memory loss then or short term memory loss? I have done the ravlt test before and scored highly but is it ok to use mnemonics during this test? For example two words might appear in succession "Red","Ball" I might think to myself a "red ball" as an easier way to remember. Is this ok during neurological testing?

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (13 hours later)

Brief Answer:
It tests recent verbal memory.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.

RAVLT tests recent(short term) verbal memory and not the episodic memory.You can use both these ways to remember(mnemonics and succession pattern).That's not an issue.

Hope that helps.If you have some further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up.

Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar