title: Dissociation between recognition and recall in developmental amnesia.
abstract: Developmental amnesia (DA) is a memory disorder due to hypoxia/ischaemia-induced damage to the hippocampus early in life. To test the hypothesis that this disorder is associated with a disproportionate impairment in recall vis-à-vis recognition, we examined a group of 10 patients with DA on the Doors and People test, which affords a quantitative comparison between measures of the two memory processes. The results supported the hypothesis in that the patients showed a sharp, though not complete, recall-recognition dissociation, exhibiting impairment on both measures relative to their matched controls, but with a far greater loss in recall than in recognition. Whether their relatively spared recognition ability is due to restriction of their medial temporal lobe damage to the hippocampus or whether it is due instead to their early age at injury is still uncertain.
authors.affiliation: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, University College London, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Anna-Lynne R
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Adlam
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malloy
authors.forename: Mortimer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mishkin
authors.forename: Faraneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vargha-Khadem
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult