Common ground and memory challenges in major neurocognitive disorder

In this article we investigate how memory challenges are revealed and dealt with in interaction involving couples living with Major Neurocognitive Disorder (MND – former dementia). Using a set of repeated video recorded interviews with couples performed over 5 years, interactional sequences are analyzed where one or both spouses make a reference to any kind of ‘memory problems’, that is, not ‘remembering’ information. Focus is on how these instances are dealt with by the couples, with an emphasis on their responses to these challenges. This analysis is framed theoretically in terms of multimodal interaction analysis and common ground and aimed at highlighting how memory challenges in MND are manifested and managed in interaction. We found (1) that what is often called troubles with remembering or memory become manifest in responses to requests for information. (2) The couples deal actively with responding to the memory challenges. (3) The ‘memory problems’ are connected to epistemics and is about what knowledge they both expect each other to have as they share a common ground. (4) It is not necessarily the memory deficits as such that are the trouble spots in interaction involving people living with MND, rather the consequences of the fragmenting common ground. (5) Being part of a couple is not only about sharing knowledge and experiences, but also about the spouses mutually expecting each other to know and recognize this knowledge and experiences. Thus, it seems that ‘memory problems’ is in many ways less about ‘memory’ and ‘memories’, but rather about relationships and identities.