Three patients amnesic due to encephalitis and six normal control subjects performed a 45-rpm rotary pursuit task. Bilateral damage of the medial temporal lobe was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging for all three patients. All amnesic patients acquired the skill, although actual time on target differed across individuals. On the retention test, after a seven-day interval, amnesic patients showed complete retention of the skill without acknowledgment of the acquisition training.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CermakL. S.LewisR.ButtersN.GoodglassH. (1973) Role of verbal mediation in performance of motor tasks by Korsakoff patients. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 37, 259–262.
2.
CermakL. S.O'ConnerM. (1983) The anterograde and retrograde retrieval ability of a patient with amnesia due to encephalitis. Neuropsychologia, 21, 213–234.
3.
CohenN. J. (1984) Preserved learning capacity in amnesia: evidence for multiple memory systems. In SquireL. R.ButtersN. (Eds.), Neuropsychology of memory. New York: Guilford. Pp. 83–103.
4.
CorkinS. (1968) Acquisition of motor skill after bilateral medial temporal-lobe excision. Neuropsychologia, 6, 255–265.
5.
DamasioA. R.EslingerP. J.DamasioH.Van HoesenG. W.CornellS. (1985) Multimodal amnesic syndrome following bilateral temporal and basal forebrain damage. Archives of Neurology, 42, 252–259.
6.
HattaT.NakatsukaZ. (1975) H. N. Handedness Inventory. In OhnoS. (Ed.), Papers for celebration of 63rd birthday of Prof. Ohnishi. Osaka: Osaka City Univer. Pp. 224–247.
7.
MishkinM.MalamutB.BachevalierJ. (1984) Memories and habits: two neural systems. In LynchG.McGaughJ. L.WeinbergerN. M. (Eds.), Neurobiology of learning and memory. New York: Guilford. Pp. 65–77.
8.
SquireL. R.Zola-MorganS. (1988) Memory: brain systems and behavior. Trends in Neurosciences, 11, 170–175.
