Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-07T16:19:28.883Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dissociation of implicit and explicit knowledge in a case of psychogenic retrograde amnesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2009

Jeffrey R. Campodonico  and
Sharilyn Rediess
Jeffrey R. Campodonico
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There have been few studies of psychogenic amnesia based on a cognitive or neuropsychological framework. In the present study, a patient with acute onset of profound psychogenic retrograde amnesia was examined. Although her performance on neuropsychological tasks revealed intact anterograde memory, language functioning, visuospatial and constructional skills, and mental speed and flexibility, she displayed severe impairments on a variety of retrograde memory tasks. Furthermore, initial observations revealed inconsistencies between the patient’s recall of semantic knowledge on direct questioning and her ability to demonstrate the use of this knowledge on indirect tasks. To test this formally, we devised an indirect remote knowledge task to examine a possible dissociation between explicit and implicit memory. Two healthy subjects matched for age, gender, education, occupation, and estimated IQ were also tested. As predicted, the findings demonstrate implicit knowledge despite impaired explicit recall for the same material. (JINS, 1996, 2, 146–158.)

Keywords

Psychogenic amnesiaNeuropsychologyImplicit memory
Type
Case Study
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , March 1996 , pp. 146 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abeles, M. & Schilder, P. (1935). Psychogenic loss of personal identity. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 34, 587–604.Google Scholar
Albert, M.S., Butters, N., & Levin, J. (1979). Temporal gradients in the retrograde amnesia of patients with alcoholic Korsakoff's disease. Archives of Neurology, 36, 211–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barona, A., Reynolds, C.R., & Chastain, R. (1984). A demographically- based index of pre-morbid intelligence for the WAIS-R. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 885–887.Google Scholar
Brandt, J. (1992). Detecting amnesia's imposters. In Squire, L.R. & Butters, N. (Eds.), Neuropsychology of memory (2nd ed.) (pp. 156–165). New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Bruyer, R., Laterre, C., Seron, X., Feyereisen, P., Strypstein, E., Pierrard, E., & Rectem, D. (1983). A case of prosopagnosia with some preserved covert remembrance of familiar faces. Brain and Cognition, 2, 257–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butters, N. & Cermak, L.S. (1980). Alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Crovitz, H.F. & Schiffman, H. (1974). Frequency of episodic memories as a function of their age. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 4, 517–518.Google Scholar
Damasio, A., Eslinger, P., Damasio, H., Van Hoesen, G.W., & Cornell, S. (1985). Multimodal amnesic syndrome following bilateral temporal and basal forebrain damage. Archives of Neurology, 42, 252–259.Google Scholar
de Haan, E.H.F., Young, A., & Newcombe, F. (1987). Face recognition without awareness. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 4, 385–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Haan, E.H.F., Young, A., & Newcombe, F. (1991). Covert and overt recognition in prosopagnosia. Brain, 114, 2575–2591.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Domb, Y. & Beaman, K. (1991). Mr. X -A case of amnesia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 423–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graf, P. & Schacter, D.L. (1985). Implicit and explicit memory for new associations in normal and amnesic subjects. Journal of Experimental Psychology [Learning, Memory, and Cognition], 11, 501–518.Google Scholar
Haaland, K.Y., Vranes, L.F., Goodwin, J.S., & Garry, P.J. (1987). Wisconsin Card Sort Test performance in a healthy elderly population. Journal of Gerontology, 42(3), 345–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilgard, E.R. (1973). Dissociation revisited. In Henle, M., Jaynes, J., & Sullivan, J.J. (Eds.), Historical conceptions of psychology. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Kaplan, E.F., Goodlass, H., & Weintraub, S. (1978). The Boston Naming Test. Boston: E. Kaplan & H. Goodglass.Google Scholar
Kapur, N. (1991). Amnesia in relation to fugue states—Distinguishing a neurological from a psychogenic basis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 872–877.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kapur, N. (1993). Focal retrograde amnesia in neurological disease: A critical review. Cortex, 29, 217–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kapur, N., Heath, P., Meudell, P., & Kennedy, P. (1986). Amnesia can facilitate memory performance: Evidence from a patient with dissociated retrograde amnesia. Neuropsychologia, 24(2), 215–221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M.D. (1987). Amnesia: Organic and psychogenic. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 428–442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M.D., Christensen, H., Puffett, A., & Stanhope, N. (1994). The great escape: A neuropsychological study of psychogenic amnesia. Neuropsychologia, 32(6), 675–691.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M.D., Wilson, B., & Baddeley, A.D. (1989). The autobiographical memory interview: A new assessment of autobiographical and personal semantic memory in amnesic patients. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 11, 724–744.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lezak, M.D. (1983). Neuropsychological assessment (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Markowitz, J. & Viederman, M. (1986). A case report of dissociative pseudodementia. General Hospital Psychiatry, 8, 87–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNeil, J.E. & Warrington, E.K. (1991). Prosopagnosia: A reclassification. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43A, 267–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nemiah, J.C. (1979). Dissociative amnesia: A clinical and theoretical reconsideraton. In Kihlstrom, J.F. & Evans, F.J. (Eds.), Functional disorders of memory (pp. 303–321). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Nissen, M.J., Ross, J.L., Willingham, D.B., MacKenzie, T.B. & Schacter, D.L. (1988). Memory and awareness in a patient with multiple personality disorder. Brain and Cognition, *** 117–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’connor, M., Butters, N., Miliotis, P., Eslinger, P., & Cermal, L.S. (1992). The dissociation of anterograde and retrograde amnesia in a patient with herpes encephalitis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 14(2), 159–17***CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schacter, D.L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology [Learning, Memory, and Cognition], 13, 501–518.Google Scholar
Schacter, D.L., Kihlstrom, J.F., Kihlstrom, L.C., & Berret, M.B. (1989). Autobiographical memory in a case of multiple personality disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 98(4), 508–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schacter, D.L. & Tulving, E. (1982). Memory, amnesia, and the episodic/semantic distinction. In Isaacson, R.L. & Spea***, N.(Eds.), Expression of knowledge. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Schacter, D.L., Wang, P.L., Tulving, E., & Freedman, M. (1982). Functional retrograde amnesia: A quantitative case study. Neuropsychologia, 20(5), 523–532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sergent, J. & Poncet, M. (1990). From covert to overt recognition of faces in a prosopagnosic patient. Brain, 113, 989–1004.Google Scholar
Shimamura, A.P. (1986). Priming effects in amnesia: Evidence for a dissociable memory function. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38(A), 619–644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tulving, E., Schacter, D.L., McLachlan, D.R., & Moscovitel, M. (1988). Priming of semantic autobiographical knowledge A case study of retrograde amnesia. Brain and Cognition, *** 3–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warrington, E.K. (1984). Recognition Memory Test. Berkshir*** NFER-NELSON Publishing.Google Scholar
Young, A.W. (1994). Conscious and nonconscious recognitic*** of familiar faces. In Umilta, C. & Moscovitch, M. (Eds.), A tention and performance XV (pp. 153–178). Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Young, A.W. & de Haan, E.H.F. (1988). Boundaries of cove recognition in prosopagnosia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 5, 317–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar