(Miller, Caine, Harding, Thompson, Large & Watson, 2001) Soomi Kim PSYC 260.
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Transcript of (Miller, Caine, Harding, Thompson, Large & Watson, 2001) Soomi Kim PSYC 260.
Right Medial Thalamic Lesion causes Isolated
Retrograde Amnesia(Miller, Caine, Harding,
Thompson, Large & Watson, 2001)
Soomi Kim PSYC 260
IntroductionWhat is amnesia?
Temporary or/and permanent loss of memory.
There are two types of amnesia.AnterogradeRetrograde
Types of AmnesiaAnterograde Amnesia
Retrograde AmnesiaShort term memory loss
e.g. black out after excessive alcohol consumption.
Long term memory losse.g. wedding day
HypothesisThe right mediodorsal thalamic nucleus and
immediately surrounding areas are responsible for central processing mechanisms such as recalling cortically stored memories, which are suggested by McClelland (1994) and Markowitsch (1995).
Case PresentationJG is a 33 years old, right-handed, healthy
male patient.He has isolated retrograde amnesia caused by
right medial thalamic lesionNormal day to day memoryTrouble recalling:
Autobiographical information Procedure memory Knowledge of famous people and events
Case PresentationHe said “I don’t remember anything”.He had no memory of where he worked and
what he was supposed to do at work.
Neurological FindingsCT scan showed the patient’s brain is normal.MRI showed that there are three lesions in
the patient’s thalamus.Right:
More anterior and mediodorsal thalamic nuclei (a) More posterior part of mediodorsal nucleus (b)
Left: Posterior part of the mediodorsal nucleus and
paraventricular nucleus (c)
Neurological FindingsAnterior
Right Left
Posterior
Neuropsychological AssessmentsInitial Assessment
JG’s recognition ability for autobiographical material “Major Life Events Test” Recognizing a familiar face among the picture of
three strangers Matching Christian names with each photograph of
his family members or friendsResults:
He was unable to correctly identify faces of people in his past.
But he identified people whom he recently met.
Neuropsychological AssessmentsJG’s non-autobiographical information
“Famous People Test” “Famous Events Test”
Results: His performance was at near-chance level when
compared with three men without any known neurological disorders.
No significant differences between recognizing famous people’s names and faces before and during his life time.
He barely remembered any of famous events regardless of time.
Neuropsychological AssessmentsFamous People Test
Neuropsychological AssessmentsFamous Events Test
Neuropsychological AssessmentsFollow-up Assessment
JG showed no improvements in Recalling of personal events and semantic details
from childhood His memory of distant past autobiographical events Recalling famous events that occurred before the
onset of his lesionJG showed improvements in recognition of
famous people whom he recently saw. But he could not match faces with names.
Neuropsychological AssessmentsProcedural Memory
JG kept long-standing procedural memories. e.g. driving and playing golf
However, JG’s procedural knowledge was slightly impaired. e.g. using a cash register at the shop he worked a
few weeks before his admission
DiscussionJG’ severe and chronic retrograde amnesia
was found to be caused by the recent lesion.Posterior part of the mediodorsal nucleus and
paraventricular nucleus (c)JG’s symptoms are due to other related
cortical area dysfunctions as well.He had difficulties accessing more distant
memories, which are stored in neocortex.
DiscussionKnowledge of people, events and other
unique material differs form other factual knowledge and they are also correlated with personal experiences.
ConclusionThe results are consistent with McClellend
and Markowitsch’s finding that the right mediodorsal thalamic nucleus and the surrounding regions engage in central procession mechanism such as recalling cortically stored memories.
My OpinionStrengths WeaknessesIt is heuristic
It can provide background information for future study.
Combined method and result sections make hard to reproduce.Confusing
The conclusion is hard to generalize to the entire population.