Amnesia following damage to the left fornix and to other sites. A comparative study.
Two memory-impaired patients, who had suffered damage to the left or both fornix columns during removal of a ventricular cyst, were compared with 3 others having left-sided hippocampal or thalamic lesions, and with normal controls. The tests used were nonverbal--scene recognition, delayed matching-to-sample and concurrent pattern and object discrimination learning. The last two are differentially sensitive to fornix transection and to hippocampal or thalamic ablations in monkeys; however, the patients with fornix damage did not show a distinctive pattern of impairment. The reasons for this discrepancy are discussed. The study adds to the evidence that fornix transection can cause wide-ranging memory disturbances in man.
Gaffan
E A
EA
Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, UK.
Gaffan
D
D
Hodges
J R
JR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000647:Amnesia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D003560:Cysts / Q000601:surgery*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012016:Reference Values; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed