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Article type: Research Article
Authors: Ouellet, Julie | Rouleau, Isabelle; | Labrecque, Raymonde | Bernier, Gilles | Scherzer, Peter B.
Affiliations: Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada | Neurology Service, Notre-Dame Hospital, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), Montréal, QC, Canada
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Isabelle Rouleau, Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3P8 Canada. Tel.: +1 514 987 3000 ext. 8915; Fax: +1 514 987 8952; E-mail: rouleau.isabelle@uqam.ca
Abstract: Organic and psychogenic retrograde amnesia have long been considered as distinct entities and as such, studied separately. However, patterns of neuropsychological impairments in organic and psychogenic amnesia can bear interesting resemblances despite different aetiologies. In this paper, two cases with profound, selective and permanent retrograde amnesia are presented, one of an apparent organic origin and the other with an apparent psychogenic cause. The first case, DD, lost his memory after focal brain injury from a nail gun to the right temporal lobe. The second case, AC, lost her memory in the context of intense psychological suffering. In both cases, pre-morbid autobiographical memory for people, places and events was lost, and no feeling of familiarity was experienced during relearning. In addition, they both lost some semantic knowledge acquired prior to the onset of the amnesia. This contrasts with the preservation of complex motor skills without any awareness of having learned them. Both DD and AC showed mild deficits on memory tests but neither presented any anterograde amnesia. The paradox of these cases – opposite causes yet similar clinical profile – exemplifies the hypothesis that organic and psychogenic amnesia may be two expressions of the same faulty mechanism in the neural circuitry.
Keywords: Retrograde amnesia, remote memory loss, psychogenic origin, functional retrograde amnesia, autobiographic amnesia
DOI: 10.3233/BEN-2008-0213
Journal: Behavioural Neurology, vol. 20, no. 1-2, pp. 27-38, 2008
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