Assessment of retrograde memory through a recall questionnaire of famous people and public events

Retrograde memory was assessed by means of the «Cuestionario sobre recuerdo de personajes y sucesos del pasado», a test of memory for famous people and public events from the last five decades. The questionnaire was administered to 187 subjects (86 men and 101 women) from a wide range of age, and to 23 patients with dementia (5 men and 18 women). Results indicate that the questionnaire is able to detect differences in remote memory among ages. Differences in remote memory between normal subjects and patients with dementia matched on age are also found. Copyright © 2003 Psicothema.