[Musical memory preserved in an amnesic syndrome].
BACKGROUND
In amnesic syndromes, it's usually to see dissociation between episodic, semantic and procedural memory. However, a few reports have been found about musical memory's processing and the relation with classic memory systems.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the musical's abilities preserved in a patient with amnesic syndrome and discuss possible neuropsychological and neurobiological bases implicated.


METHODS
A 28-years-old woman presenting with amnesic syndrome is reported. Following a carbon monoxide encephalophaty and subsequent hypoxia she remained in coma for 10 days with evidence of bilateral temporal changes, mainly affecting basal ganglia areas. The patient showed anterograde amnesia and semantic memory impairment, with disproportionately spared musical abilities' performance, either music perception (discrimination and recognition of tonal melodies, musical sight-reading) or music production (song and instrumental performance) or musical memory.


CONCLUSIONS
This case suggests that the music require elaborate bihemispheric processing and may implicate different forms of information processing. The neural network involved in musical memory can be different that the declarative memory systems (episodic and semantic).
Sánchez
V
V
Servicio de Investigación y Rehabilitación Neuropsicológica (SIREN) CEMIC y CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Serrano
C
C
Feldman
M
M
Tufró
G
G
Rugilo
C
C
Allegri
R F
RF
D000328:Adult; D020324:Amnesia, Anterograde / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D002249:Carbon Monoxide Poisoning / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020925:Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009146:Music; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests