Compromised retrieval of autobiographical memory (ABM) is well established in neurodegenerative disorders. The recounting of autobiographical events is inextricably linked to linguistic knowledge, yet no study to date has investigated whether tense use during autobiographical narration is disrupted in dementia syndromes. This study investigated the incidence of correct past tense use during ABM narration in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 10) and semantic dementia (SD, n = 10) in comparison with healthy older Controls (n = 10). Autobiographical narratives were analysed for episodic content (internal/external) and classified according to tense use (past/present). Across both patient groups, use of the past tense was significantly compromised relative to Controls, with increased levels of off‐target present tense verbs observed. Voxel‐based morphometry analyses based on structural MRI revealed differential associations between past tense use and regions of grey matter intensity in the brain. Bilateral temporal cortices were implicated in the SD group, whereas frontal, lateral, and medial temporal regions including the right hippocampus emerged in AD. This preliminary study provides the first demonstration of the disruption of specific linguistic constructs during autobiographical narration in AD and SD. Future studies are warranted to clarify at what point in the disease trajectory such deficits in tense use emerge, and whether these deficits are a product or contributing factor in memory disruption in these syndromes.

中文翻译：

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“过去的语言”-探索神经退行性疾病的自传叙述中的过去式破坏。

在神经退行性疾病中，对自传体记忆（ABM）的妥善检索已经建立。自传事件的叙述与语言知识有着千丝万缕的联系，但迄今为止，尚无研究调查自传叙事中的紧张使用是否在痴呆症综合征中受到干扰。这项研究调查了阿尔茨海默氏病（AD，n  =  10）和语义性痴呆（SD，n  = 10）与健康的老年对照组（n = 10）。分析自传体叙事的情节内容（内部/外部），并根据时态使用（过去/现在）进行分类。在两个患者组中，过去时的使用相对于对照组都受到了很大的影响，观察到的偏离目标的现在时态动词的水平有所增加。基于结构MRI的基于体素的形态计量学分析揭示了过去时态使用与大脑中灰质强度区域之间的差异关联。SD组牵涉到双侧颞皮质，而AD则出现了包括右侧海马在内的额颞，外侧和内侧颞区。这项初步研究首次证明了在AD和SD的自传叙事过程中特定语言结构的破坏。