A case study of surrogate memory cues, self‐narrative, and recall

This poster session paper reports on research exploring (1) how individuals with early‐stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) use memory cues in the form of representations (tokens) to recall memories of life stories, and (2) ways in which representations (tokens) influence the nature and content of the individual's recall narrative. Further, it examines whether memory recall differs in response to personal, participant‐chosen memory cues, as compared to those selected by someone other than the participant. Reliance on personal artifacts used during two of three unstructured interview sessions resulted in recollections that seemed more scripted in delivery and circumscribed in detail. In contrast, and in response to researcher‐selected tokens used exclusively during session 3, full recollections and additional stories were seen to be more fully formed and detailed. While this subset of a larger study deals only with one individual, findings suggest that generic associations may be at least equal to, if not more effective than, unique, individuated artifacts to engendering creative self‐expression and vivid personal recall for those experiencing the initial memory loss of AD. This finding may open opportunities to cultural heritage institutions (libraries, archives, museums, galleries) to assemble information “memory boxes” that reinforce recall of life stories by clients with early‐stage AD.