Modality Specific Semantic Knowledge Loss for Unique Items

We report the case of a man who, following a major myocardial infarction, suffered anoxia followed by significant event memory impairment. Investigations indicated that his semantic memory for word concepts and object meanings was well preserved. However, he had great difficulty in identifying in th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cortex 1996-03, Vol.32 (1), p.109-119
Main Authors: Kartsounis, L.D., Shallice, T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humans
Male
Memory Disorders - physiopathology
Memory Disorders - psychology
Middle Aged
Myocardial Infarction - physiopathology
Perception - physiology
Semantics
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Summary:We report the case of a man who, following a major myocardial infarction, suffered anoxia followed by significant event memory impairment. Investigations indicated that his semantic memory for word concepts and object meanings was well preserved. However, he had great difficulty in identifying in the visual (but not verbal) modality historically known people, such as Queen Elizabeth I and Napoleon, and well known world and London landmarks, such as the Parthenon and Buckingham Palace. This selective impairment could not be accounted for in terms of prosopagnosia or high level visual perceptual deficits and we interpret it as a modality specific semantic memory loss for unique objects.
ISSN:0010-9452
1973-8102
DOI:10.1016/S0010-9452(96)80020-7