Focal retrograde amnesia for autobiographical events following cerebral vasculitis: A connectionist account

We describe a patient who developed a focal retrograde amnesia in the absence of any measurable anterograde memory deficit following recovery from an acute confusional state arising from a primary cerebral vasculitis. Brain imaging revealed bilateral frontal and parietal atrophic changes and a well circumscribed lesion of the left superior temporal gyrus, The patient has normal intellect and well above average anterograde memory performance, She is able to describe the general outline of her life history, but cannot recall retrograde autobiographical episodes apart from those that occurred during childhood. Her recall of events that have taken place since her illness is good, The data are discussed with reference to contemporary connectionist models of memory. It is argued that while a transient disruption of hippocampal function may result in a focal retrograde amnesia, in the present case the temporally extensive autobiographical memory deficit favours the hypothesis that the impairment arises from multifocal neocortical damage.