The Swinging Self: The Costs of Shifting Between Self-Images in Alzheimer's Disease. (3rd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Altintas, Emin; Moustafa, Ahmed A.; Gallouj, Karim; Haj, Mohamad El
• Is Part Of: American journal of Alzheimer's disease & other dementias. Volume 35(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-07-03
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease -- executive function -- self -- self-images -- shifting; Alzheimer's disease -- Periodicals; Dementia -- Periodicals; Alzheimer's disease -- Patients -- Care -- United States -- Periodicals; 616.83
• DOI: 10.1177/1533317520905401
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1533-3175

Abstract

Background: We investigated the ability of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) to shift between different self-images. Methods: We developed an original task (shifting-self task) in which we invited 28 patients with AD and 30 control participants to generate "who am I" statements that describe 2 alternative self-images (ie, physical-self vs psychological-self). In a control task, participants had to generate 2 blocks of "who am I" statements (ie, physical-self block and psychological-self block). Results: Analyses showed longer completion time in both the shifting-self and control task in patients with AD than in control participants. Completion time on the shifting-self task was longer than that on the control task in patients with AD, suggesting a shifting cost in AD. Conclusion: We propose that one feature of the diminished sense of self in AD is the difficulty of patients to shift between different alternating self-images.