Further analysis of the hippocampal amnesic syndrome: 14-year follow-up study of H.M.

doi:10.1016/0028-3932(68)90021-3

Neuropsychologia

Volume 6, Issue 3, September 1968, Pages 215-234

https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(68)90021-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

The report attempts to delineate certain residual learning capacities of H.M., a young man who became amnesic in 1953 following a bilateral removal in the hippocampal zone. In addition to being able to acquire new motor skills (CORKIN [2]), this patient shows some evidence of perceptual learning. He also achieves some retention of very simple visual and tactual mazes in which the sequence of required turns is short enough to fit into his immediate memory span; even then, the rate of acquisition is extremely slow. These vestigial abilies, which have their occasional parallels in the patient's everyday life, are assessed against the background of his continuing profound amnesia for most on-going events, an amnesia that persists in spite of above-average intelligence and superior performance on many perceptual tasks.

Résumé

Cet article a pour but de délimiter certaines possibilités résiduelles d'apprentissage chez H.M., jeune homme devenu amnésique en 1953, á la suite d'une ablation bilatérale de la région de l'hippocampe. En plus d'être capable d'acquérir de nouvelles habiletés motrices (CORKIN [2]), ce malade manifeste un certain degré d'apprentissage perceptif. I1 manifeste aussi un progrés réel dans la maîtrise de labyrinthes visuel et tactile trés simples, oú la série des tournants obligatoires est suffisamment courte pour s'inscrire dans le champ d'appréhension de la mémoire immédiate. Même dans ce cas, l'acquisition est extrêmement lente. Ces vestiges d'aptitudes, qui réappraissent à l'occasion dans la vie quotidienne du malade, sont evalués sur un fond d'amnésie profonde atteignant la plupart des évènements courants, amnésie qui persiste en dépit d'une intelligence au-dessus de la moyenne et d'un rendement supérieur dans l'exécution de plusieurs tâches perceptives.

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Bericht versucht die übrig gebliebenen Lernfähigkeiten im Fall H.M. zu kennzeichnen, bei dem ein amnestisches Syndrom im Jahr 1953 nach beidseitiger Abtragung der Ammonshornrinde aufrat. Ausser der fortdauernden Fähigkeit, neue motorische Geschicklichkeiten zu erwerben (CORKIN [2], war es dem Patienten möglich, gewisse Lernfähigkeiten an Wahrnehmungsprüfungen aufzuweisen. Er brachte es auch zustande (obwohl ausserordentlich langsam) einige sehr einfache visuell und taktil dargebotene Labyrinthe zu bahalten, bei denen die Zahl der sukzessiven Wendepunkte so verringert wurde, dass sie in das kurzfristige Gedächtnis des Patienten passte. Diese Spuren von langfristigen Gedächtnisleistungen, die ihre gelegentlichen Parallelen im gewöhnlichen Tageslauf des Patienten fanden, werden der weitgehenden Amnesie gegenübergestellt, die trotz überdurchschnittler Intelligenz und hervorragender Wahrnehmungsleistungen weiter andauert.

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^☆: From the Montreal Neurological Institute and from the Psychophysiological Laboratory and Clinical Research Center, M.I.T. This work was supported in part by the Medical Research Council of Canada, and in part by grants to H.-L. TEUBER from the John A. Hartford Foundation, NASA, and the National Institutes of Health (under MH-05673, and a Clinical Center Grant, FR88). The follow-up study of K.M. was supported by United States Public Health Small Grant M5774A to BRENDA MILNER.

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Further analysis of the hippocampal amnesic syndrome: 14-year follow-up study of H.M.☆

Abstract

Résumé

Zusammenfassung

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Exp. Neurol.

Psychol. Bull.

J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat.

A.M.A. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat.

Effects of unilateral temporal lobe lesions

Neuropsychologia

Memory and the hippocampal complex

Arch. Neurol.

Developmental studies of visual recognition of incomplete objects

Percept. Mot. Skills

Über den Einfluss der Erfahrung auf die Wahrnehmung von Figuren

Psychol. Forsch.

Über den Einfluss der Erfahrung auf die Wahrnehmung von Figuren

Psychol. Forsch.

A behavioral analysis of degree of reinforcement and ease of shifting to new responses in a Weigl-type card-sorting problem

J. exp. Psychol.

The Organization of Behavior

Human behavior after extensive bilateral removals from the frontal lobes

Arch. Neurol. Psychiat.

The effects of bilateral hippocampal lesions in rats

J. comp. physiol. Psychol.

Right temporal-lobe damage

Arch. Neurol.

Effect of extent of temporal lobe ablations on two laterized deficits

Physiol. Behav.

Psychological defects produced by temporal lobe excision

Res. Publ. Ass. Res. nerv. ment. Dis.