Hostname: page-component-669899f699-g7b4s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T11:24:01.034Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On hallucinations and memory: the relationship between hallucinations and autobiographical overgenerality in Alzheimer’s Disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2024

Mohamad El Haj Open the ORCID record for Mohamad El Haj [Opens in a new window]  and
Frank Larøi
Mohamad El Haj*
Affiliation:
CHU Nantes, Clinical Gerontology Department, Bd Jacques Monod, Nantes, France
Frank Larøi
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway Norwegian Center of Excellence for Mental Disorders Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
*
Corresponding author: Mohamad El Haj; Email: mohamad.elhaj@univ-nantes.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives:

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been associated with autobiographical overgenerality (i.e. a tendency of patients to retrieve general rather than specific personal memories). AD has also been associated with hallucinations. We investigated the relationship between autobiographical overgenerality and hallucinations in AD.

Methods:

We invited 28 patients with mild AD to retrieve autobiographical memories, and we also evaluated the occurrence of hallucinations in these patients.

Results:

Analysis demonstrated significant correlations between hallucinations and autobiographical overgenerality in the patients.

Conclusion:

AD patients who are distressed by hallucinations may demonstrate autobiographical overgenerality as a strategy to avoid retrieving distressing information that may be related with hallucinations. However, hallucinations as observed in our study can be attributed to other factors such as the general cognitive decline in AD.

Keywords

Alzheimer’s diseaseautobiographical memoryautobiographical overgeneralityhallucinationsmemory
Type
Original Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , June 2024 , pp. 162 - 166
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Addis, DR, Sacchetti, DC, Ally, BA, Budson, AE and Schacter, DL (2009) Episodic simulation of future events is impaired in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychologia 47(12), 2660–2671.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barnabe, A, Whitehead, V, Pilon, R, Arsenault-Lapierre, G and Chertkow, H (2012) Autobiographical memory in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease: a comparison between the Levine and Kopelman interview methodologies. Hippocampus 22(9), 1809–1825.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bassiony, MM and Lyketsos, CG (2003) Delusions and hallucinations in Alzheimer’s disease: review of the brain decade. Psychosomatics 44(5), 388–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bassiony, MM, Steinberg, MS, Warren, A, Rosenblatt, A, Baker, AS and Lyketsos, CG (2000) Delusions and hallucinations in Alzheimer’s disease: prevalence and clinical correlates. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 15, 99–107.3.0.CO;2-5>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benrimoh, D, Parr, T, Adams, RA and Friston, K (2019) Hallucinations both in and out of context: an active inference account. PLOS ONE 14(8), e0212379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berna, F, Potheegadoo, J, Aouadi, I, Ricarte, JJ, Alle, MC, Coutelle, R, Boyer, L, Cuervo-Lombard, CV and Danion, JM (2016) A meta-analysis of autobiographical memory studies in schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Schizophrenia Bulletin 42(1), 56–66.Google ScholarPubMed
Birchwood, M and Chadwick, P (1997) The omnipotence of voices: testing the validity of a cognitive model. Psychological Medicine 27(6), 1345–1353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brennan, RL and Prediger, DJ (1981) Coefficient kappa: some uses, misuses, and alternatives. Educational and Psychological Measurement 41, 687–699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, A, Jacoby, R and Levy, R (1990) Psychiatric phenomena in Alzheimer’s disease. I: Disorders of thought content. The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science 157, 72–6, 92–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaudhury, S (2010) Hallucinations: clinical aspects and management. Industrial Psychiatry Journal 19(1), 5–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collerton, D, Perry, E and McKeith, I (2005) Why people see things that are not there: a novel Perception and Attention Deficit model for recurrent complex visual hallucinations. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28(6), 737–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conway, MA and Pleydell-Pearce, CW (2000) The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review 107(2), 261–288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deutsch, LH, Bylsma, FW, Rovner, BW, Steele, C and Folstein, MF (1991) Psychosis and physical aggression in probable Alzheimer’s disease. American Journal of Psychiatry 148(9), 1159–1163.Google ScholarPubMed
Diederich, NJ, Goetz, CG and Stebbins, GT (2005) Repeated visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease as disturbed external/internal perceptions: focused review and a new integrative model. Movement Disorders 20(2), 130–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El Haj, M (2016) Memory suppression in Alzheimer’s disease. Neurological Sciences 37(3), 337–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M and Antoine, P (2017a) Describe yourself to improve your autobiographical memory: a study in Alzheimer’s disease. Cortex 88, 165–172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M and Antoine, P (2017b) Discrepancy between subjective autobiographical reliving and objective recall: the past as seen by Alzheimer’s disease patients. Consciousness and Cognition 49, 110–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M and Antoine, P (2018) Context memory in Alzheimer’s disease: the “Who, where, and when”. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology 33(2), 158–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El Haj, M, Antoine, P, Nandrino, JL, Gely-Nargeot, MC and Raffard, S (2015a). Self-defining memories during exposure to music in Alzheimer’s disease. International Psychogeriatrics 27, 1719–1730.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M, Antoine, P, Nandrino, JL and Kapogiannis, D (2015b) Autobiographical memory decline in Alzheimer’s disease, a theoretical and clinical overview. Ageing Research Reviews 23(Pt B), 183–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M, Badcock, JC and Larøi, F (2020) Hallucinations and source monitoring in Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 25(6), 435–446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M, Clément, S, Fasotti, L and Allain, P (2013) Effects of music on autobiographical verbal narration in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neurolinguistics 26(6), 691–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El Haj, M, Fasotti, L and Allain, P (2012a) The involuntary nature of music-evoked autobiographical memories in Alzheimer’s disease. Consciousness and Cognition 21(1), 238–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M, Gallouj, K, Dehon, H, Roche, J and Laroi, F (2018) Hallucinations in Alzheimer’s disease: failure to suppress irrelevant memories. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 23(3), 142–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M, Kapogiannis, D and Antoine, P (2016) Phenomenological reliving and visual imagery during autobiographical recall in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Alzheimers Disease 52(2), 421–431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M, Laroi, F, Gely-Nargeot, MC and Raffard, S (2015c) Inhibitory deterioration may contribute to hallucinations in Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 20(4), 281–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M, Postal, V and Allain, P (2012b) Music enhances autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Educational Gerontology 38(1), 30–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El Haj, M, Roche, J, Gallouj, K and Gandolphe, MC (2017a) Autobiographical memory compromise in Alzheimer’s disease: a cognitive and clinical overview. Geriatr Psychol Neuropsychiatr Vieil 15(4), 443–451.Google ScholarPubMed
El Haj, M, Roche, J, Jardri, R, Kapogiannis, D, Gallouj, K and Antoine, P (2017b) Clinical and neurocognitive aspects of hallucinations in Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 83, 713–720.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ffytche, DH (2008) The hodology of hallucinations. Cortex 44(8), 1067–1083.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, MF, Folstein, SE and Mchugh, PR (1975) Mini-mental state. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research 12(3), 189–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grober, E and Buschke, H (1987) Genuine memory deficits in dementia. Developmental Neuropsychology 3(1), 13–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemsley, DR (2005) The development of a cognitive model of schizophrenia: placing it in context. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 29(6), 977–988.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Irish, M, Lawlor, BA, O’Mara, SM and Coen, RF (2011) Impaired capacity for autonoetic reliving during autobiographical event recall in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Cortex 47(2), 236–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobsen, P, Peters, E, Ward, T, Garety, PA, Jackson, M and Chadwick, P (2019) Overgeneral autobiographical memory bias in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers. Psychological Medicine 49, 113–120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeste, DV and Finkel, SI (2000) Psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Diagnostic criteria for a distinct syndrome. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 8(1), 29–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirk, M and Berntsen, D (2017) A short cut to the past: Cueing via concrete objects improves autobiographical memory retrieval in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Neuropsychologia 110, 113–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kopelman, MD, Wilson, BA and Baddeley, AD (1989) The autobiographical memory interview: a new assessment of autobiographical and personal semantic memory in amnesic patients. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 11(5), 724–744.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larøi, F, Defruyt, F, Van Os, J, Aleman, A and Van der Linden, M (2005) Associations between hallucinations and personality structure in a non-clinical sample: comparison between young and elderly samples. Personality and Individual Differences 39(1), 189–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Launay, G and Slade, P (1981) The measurement of hallucinatory predisposition in male and female prisoners. Personality and Individual Differences 2(3), 221–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinelli, P, Anssens, A, Sperduti, M and Piolino, P (2013) The influence of normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease in autobiographical memory highly related to the self. Neuropsychology 27(1), 69–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mckhann, G, Knopman, DS, Chertkow, H, Hyman, BT, Jack, CR, Kawas, JR, C., H, Klunk, WE, Koroshetz, WJ, Manly, JJ, Mayeux, R, Mohs, RC, Morris, JC, Rossor, MN, Scheltens, P, Carrillo, MC, Thies, B, Weintraub, S and Phelps, CH (2011) The diagnosis of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers & Dementia 7(3), 263–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piolino, P, Coste, C, Martinelli, P, Mace, AL, Quinette, P, Guillery-Girard, B and Belleville, S (2010) Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory and aging: do the executive and feature binding functions of working memory have a role? Neuropsychologia 48(2), 429–440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piolino, P, Desgranges, B, Clarys, D, Guillery-Girard, B, Taconnat, L, Isingrini, M and Eustache, F (2006) Autobiographical memory, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective in aging. Psychology and Aging 21(3), 510–525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rauchs, G, Piolino, P, Mézenge, F, Landeau, B, Lalevée, C, Pélerin, A, Viader, F, de la Sayette, V, Eustache, F and Desgranges, B (2007) Autonoetic consciousness in Alzheimer’s disease: neuropsychological and PET findings using an episodic learning and recognition task. Neurobiology of Aging 28(9), 1410–1420.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ropacki, SA and Jeste, DV (2005) Epidemiology of and risk factors for psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease: a review of 55 studies published from 1990 to 2003.The American Journal of Psychiatry 162(11), 2022–2030.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubin, EH, Drevets, WC and Burke, WJ (1988) The nature of psychotic symptoms in senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology 1(1), 16–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scarmeas, N, Brandt, J, Albert, M, Hadjigeorgiou, G, Papadimitriou, A, Dubois, B, Sarazin, M, Devanand, D, Honig, L, Marder, K, Bell, K, Wegesin, D, Blacker, D and Stern, Y (2005) Delusions and hallucinations are associated with worse outcome in Alzheimer disease. Archives of Neurology 62(10), 1601–1608.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shine, JM, O’Callaghan, C, Halliday, GM and Lewis, SJG (2014) Tricks of the mind: visual hallucinations as disorders of attention. Progress in Neurobiology 116, 58–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tariot, P N, Mack, J L, Patterson, M B, Edland, S D, Weiner, M F, Fillenbaum, G, Blazina, L, Teri, L, Rubin, E and Mortimer, J A (1995) The Behavior Rating Scale for Dementia of the Consortium to establish a registry for Alzheimer’s disease. The Behavioral Pathology Committee of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease. American Journal of Psychiatry 152, 1349–1357.Google Scholar
Williams, JM, Barnhofer, T, Crane, C, Herman, D, Raes, F, Watkins, E and Dalgleish, T (2007) Autobiographical memory specificity and emotional disorder. Psychological Bulletin 133(1), 122–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, RS, Gilley, DW, Bennett, DA, Beckett, LA and Evans, DA (2000) Hallucinations, delusions, and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 69(2), 172–177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed