[The assessment of episodic memory: theory and practice].
Episodic memory refers to a system which stores personally experienced events located in time and in space. It is characterized by autonoetic consciousness allowing a subject to be aware of his/her own identity throughout subjective time and to perceive the present as both a continuation of his/her past and as a prelude to his/her future. Current studies of episodic memory should take into account all these features. However, most episodic memory tests are restricted to memory performance and do not really measure episodic memory. In this article, after defining the terms of context and states of awareness, we describe two original tasks designed specially to investigate episodic memory: the 'Quoi-Où-Quand' (What-Where-When) and the 'TEMPau'. The first task allows the study of anterograde amnesia whereas the second consists of an assessment of retrograde amnesia. These two tasks include both scores of memory performance and measures of states of awareness using a procedure derived from the Remember/Know paradigm.
Guillery
B
B
INSERM U320, Services de Neurologie, CHU Côte de Nacre, Université de Caen, France.
Piolino
P
P
Desgranges
B
B
Eustache
F
F
D000648:Amnesia, Retrograde / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests