by Aileen Wiglesworth, PhD, Laura Mosqueda, MD

A significant subset of older adults with dementing illnesses can reliably report emotional events in their lives. Compared to people with dementia with less reliable emotional memory, these individuals are able to report details of the event accurately and to recall the same event again after a short time delay. They are also likely to be an earlier stage of the disease, more aware of their own cognitive impairment, more likely to report negative events in their lives and to be able to recall an event without cues.