title: P300 event-related potentials in probable dissociative generalized amnesia.
abstract: 1. To investigate whether abnormalities in objective neurophysiologic measures are observable in patients with probable dissociative generalized amnesia, the P300 and N100 event-related potentials were evaluated in six such patients in both acute stage and after recovery from amnesia. Findings were compared with those in 12 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects. 2. While latencies did not differ from those of control subjects, P300 amplitudes in acute-stage recordings were lower than those in controls. Repeated recordings in the patients showed a significant increase in P300 amplitude after recovery from amnesia. 3. Amplitude and latency of N100 did not differ between the patient and control groups, nor changed significantly after retrieval of memory. 4. These findings suggest that some unknown biological and/or psychologic mechanisms that cause retrograde autobiographic amnesia may impair cognitive function as reflected in an objective neurophysiologic measure such as the P300.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuzako
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukuzaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuzako
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueyama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takigawa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000648:Amnesia, Retrograde / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon