ABBA NETWORK

Alzheimer’s sufferers may still have a rich recall of childhood memories, beloved songs and complex activities, such as playing tennis, but not remember the name of a grandchild.

But the significance of such memory lapses depends on how forgetful you always have been and whether you were focused and paying attention when you learned someone’s name or set off to get something in the next room. Distraction often causes lapses in people with perfectly intact cognition — mainly because the initial stimulus was incompletely processed.

“You never really learn it if you don’t pay attention,” says Small, author of “The Memory Bible” and a new book, “iBrain.”

When a person who has always been meticulous about keeping appointments starts missing them, that is a worrisome change. A person who has always been a bit disorganized or easily distracted may have other problems, including attention deficit disorder or chronic depression.

If the memory lapses are consistent with a lifelong pattern, our experts say it’s unlikely to be Alzheimer’s disease.