Widespread cognitive impairment in psychogenic anterograde amnesia.
A 34-year-old man without a past history of any psychiatric or neurological disorder developed severe anterograde amnesia following a psychological trauma. Initial assessment of neuropsychological functions 3 months after the psychological trauma indicated severe memory deficits for acquiring new information in both verbal and visual modalities with widespread cognitive deficits in attention, executive functions, and intellectual ability. Importantly, working and remote memory were intact. The case illustrates that psychogenic anterograde amnesia might be associated with a wider range of cognitive deficits. Possible neurobiological explanations are discussed to explain large cognitive impairments associated with anterograde psychogenic amnesia.
Kumar
Sanjay
S
Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India. s.kumar.1@bham.ac.uk
Rao
Shobini L
SL
Sunny
Biju
B
Gangadhar
Bangalore N
BN
D000328:Adult; D020324:Amnesia, Anterograde / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology