Highlights
Lockdown is currently set in geriatric facilities to cope with Covid-19.
Lockdown is reducing contact between residents and external world.
Lockdown is increasing anxiety and depression in residents.
Research suggests that odors may serve as a potent cue for autobiographical retrieval. We tested this hypothesis in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and investigated whether odor-evoked autobiographical memory is an involuntary process that shares similarities with music-evoked autobiographical memory. Participants with mild AD and controls were asked to retrieve 2 personal memories after odor exposure, after music exposure, and in an odor-and music-free condition. AD participants showed better specificity, emotional experience, mental time travel, and retrieval time after odor and music exposure than in the control condition. Similar beneficial effects of odor and music exposure were observed for autobiographical characteristics (i.e., specificity, emotional experience, and mental time travel), except for retrieval time which was more improved after odor than after music exposure. Interestingly, regression analyses suggested executive involvement in memories evoked in the control condition but not in those evoked after music or odor exposure. These findings suggest the involuntary nature of odor-evoked autobiographical memory in AD. They also suggest that olfactory cuing could serve as a useful and ecologically valid tool to stimulate autobiographical memory, at least in the mild stage of the disease.
Due to their prevalence, hallucinations are considered as one of the most frequent psychotic symptom in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These psychotic manifestations reduce patients’ well-being, increase the burden of caregivers, contribute to early institutionalization, and are found to be related with the course of cognitive decline in AD. Considering their consequences, we provide a comprehensive account of the current state of knowledge about the prevalence and characteristics of hallucinations in AD. We provide a comprehensive and testable theoretical model about hallucinations in AD: the ALZHA (ALZheimer and HAllucinations) model. In this model, neurological, genetic, cognitive, affective, and iatrogenic factors associated with hallucinations in AD are highlighted. According to this model, hallucinations in AD first involve trait markers (i.e., cognitive deficits, neurological deficits, genetic predisposition and/or sensory deficits) to which state markers that may specifically trigger these experiences are added (e.g., psychological distress and/or iatrogenic factors). Finally, we provide recommendations for assessment and management of these psychotic manifestations in AD, with the aim to both serve patients, caregivers, and health professionals.
We investigated whether an external memory aid (i.e., Google Calendar) would alleviate prospective memory compromise in a patient with mild Alzheimer's disease. The patient was asked in the baseline phase to perform three prospective targeted events (e.g., attending her weekly bridge game at the community club) and three prospective control events (e.g., buying her weekly magazine). The same six prospective events were assessed in the intervention phase but the targeted-events were cued by Google Calendar while the control-events were not. Results showed less omission of the targeted events in the training phase than in the baseline phase, suggesting a positive effect of Google Calendar. This case report offers a unique view into how smartphone calendars may alleviate prospective memory compromise in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease.
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