Some persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD)
lose the ability to recognize themselves, as when they
cannot overtly recognize their reflection in a mirror.
There is evidence, however, that covert or unconscious
self-recognition might be displayed in such individuals.
In this study, 3 persons with AD lacking the ability to
overtly self-recognize demonstrated multiple instances
of unconscious or covert self-recognition. A variety of
interventions, inspired by research with prosopagnosics,
was implemented to remediate this loss. Interventions enabled
all participants to exhibit overt self-recognition, though
each did so with the aid of a different intervention. In
addition, successful overt self-recognition required a
verbal probe and was entirely intervention-dependent: When
the intervention was removed, overt self-recognition was
lost. Results support a dissociation between explicit–declarative versus implicit–nondeclarative memory systems,
and extends this dissociation into the realm of self-recognition
in AD. (JINS, 1997, 3, 195–198.)