Affiliations: Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris6, Centre de
Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, UMR-S975,
Paris, France | Inserm, U975, Paris, France | Cnrs, UMR 7225, Paris, France | AP-HP, Hôpital de La
Pitié-Salpêtriére, Service de médecine physique et de
réadaptation, Paris, France | AP-HP, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Service de
Neurologie, Créteil, France | Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi
di Trieste, Italy
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Valentina La Corte, INSERM U. 975,
Batiuent Ien, Piece 3002 Hôpital de la
Salpêtrière, 47, bd de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France. Tel.: +33 1
57 27 41 48; Fax: +33 1 57 27 41 90; E-mail: valentina.la_corte@etu.upmc.fr
Abstract: In this study we describe a patient, TA, who developed a chronic
amnesic-confabulatory syndrome, following rupture of a right internal carotid
siphon aneurysm. Our aim was to elucidate as fully as possible the nature of
TA's impairment and to test the hypothesis of confabulation as reflecting a
dysfunction of Temporal Consciousness, i.e. to become aware of something as
part of a personal past, present or future. TA's confabulations were present in answers to questions tapping Temporal Consciousness, i.e. autobiographical
episodic memory, orientation in time and place, and foresight of personal
future. In contrast, confabulations were not observed in answers to questions
tapping Knowing Consciousness, i.e. to become aware of something as a meaning
or as an element of impersonal knowledge. In fact, he had normal access to
semantic knowledge, including foresight of impersonal future. TA's brain MRI
showed lesions involving the right hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, fornix,
mammillary bodies, and thalamus. Moreover TA showed sub-cortical lesions
involving the caudate and putamen nuclei bilaterally, a lesion site not
commonly described in amnesic-confabulatory syndrome. We suggest that this
pattern of results is better accounted for within the framework of the Memory,
Consciousness and Temporality Theory and reflects a specific distortion of
Temporal Consciousness.
