Remote memory in a patient with amnesia due to hypoxia

Abstract

SynopsisIt has been suggested that amnesic patients suffer a selective loss of episodic memory while semantic memory remains well preserved. To assess the validity of this idea we studied remote memory in an amnesic patient, (M.R.L.), using several different measures that differ in the extent which they engage episodic or semantic memory. On two different versions of the Albert et al. (1979) remote memory battery M.R.L. displayed severe retrograde amnesia (RA) extending backwards in time for about 15 years with excellent preservation of older memories. With standard recall instructions his overall performance on the Crovitz test of autobiographical memory was impaired and all of M.R.L.'s specific, temporally dated memories were given from the first half of life. When asked to reconstruct his past residential history in detail, M.R.L. provided specific and generally accurate information for residences occupied from his boyhood until 1970, but thereafter his memory became quite unreliable. On a test of knowledge of terms commonly employed the surveying profession, in which he worked for the past 20 years, M.R.L.'s performance was also impaired. The consistent pattern of RA displayed by this patient on all of the tests of remote memory indicates that both episodic and semantic memory are impaired in amnesia.