Diencephalic temporal order amnesia.
OBJECTIVE
Amnesia for temporal relations may occur without amnesia for content memories. The aim was to determine whether a patient with mild memory loss due to a thalamic lesion had amnesia for temporal relations, and whether the amnesia was specific for particular material.


METHODS
A male patient had an isolated right dorsomedial thalamic infarct and resolving amnesia. He was tested on tasks relating to content (what) and temporal (when) memories for both verbal and non-verbal material, three and seven months after his infarct.


RESULTS
Three months after his infarct, the man had amnesia for temporal, but not content memories using non-verbal stimuli, and normal performance using verbal stimuli. Seven months after his infarct, he had a normal performance using verbal and non-verbal stimuli.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with thalamic lesions may have a material specific amnesia for temporal relations in the absence of amnesia for content.
Shuren
J E
JE
Department of Neurology, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Jacobs
D H
DH
Heilman
K M
KM
D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013786:Thalamic Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors