The “authentic subjective experience” of memory in Alzheimer’s disease

Most research has mainly focused on the decline of the subjective experience in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, few attempts have been made to evaluate whether subjective experience may be maintained in AD. In this narrative review, we attempt to provide a positive view, according to which patients with AD can enjoy, to some extent, subjective experience during memory retrieval. Memory and expression difficulties (e.g., aphasia) limit the ability of patients with AD to describe their memories, resulting in a little specificity of reported memories. However, according to the “authentic subjective experience” view, we propose in this study that the ability to mentally relive these memories could be preserved in the patients. By proposing the authentic subjective experience view, we attempt to provide an alternative view to the general consideration that the patients suffer a diminished subjective experience. This view can contribute to a larger clinical framework that gives a positive meaning to the subjective experience of patients with AD. Furthermore, several clinical and empirical implications can be drawn from the authentic subjective experience view, including the possibility to evaluate behavioral correlates of the subjective experience in AD.