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Which Presidents Are Most Memorable?

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gd{at}nymemory.org.

	Abstract

Background/rationale. Episodic memory loss is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), with recall of recent events becoming progressively difficult. A commonly used tool, the recollection of US presidents, was assessed in evaluating episodic versus semantic memory loss among AD patients compared with spouse controls.

Methods. A total of 36 patients (12 men, 24 women) with possible or probable AD were asked to "give the names of 5 US presidents" and concurrently administered the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Twenty-three spouses (12 men, 11 women) were controls. The year 1980 demarcated "remote" versus "recent" presidents.

Results. Patients were older, had lower MMSE scores (P< .001), and recalled fewer presidents than controls (P< .005), after controlling for age. Among patients, men were more educated than women (P < .05) and recalled more presidents (P < .001). No gender differences were observed in controls.

Conclusions. Patients with AD preferentially recalled remote presidents, supporting retention of semantic memory in this group. There were no gender differences between groups.

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