Amnesia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Amnesia, including details on memory loss, causes, treatment, brain injury,.

Relative preservation of 'animate' knowledge in an atypical presentation of herpes simplex virus encephalitis.

Lowe C, Knapp S, Lambon Ralph MA

Department of Psychology, University of Manchester, UK. MBRXSZCL@FS1.FSE.MAN.AC.UK

A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests designed to assess primary cognitive functions, including language and semantic memory, was given to MG, a patient with confirmed herpes simplex virus encephalitis. MG's initial jargon aphasia resolved over time to leave her with a mild phonological impairment. She had a very mild amnesia that was worse for verbal material and a category-specific impairment of semantic memory. This latter impairment resulted in a significant anomia that was worse for manmade/artefact items than for animate kinds. Her naming difficulties were associated with a mild impairment in comprehension that was not specific to category or feature type. MRI revealed a strongly asymmetric and atypical distribution of pathology in MG with the disease affecting the left medial temporal lobe, temporal pole, left frontotemporal and temporoparietal regions.

Published 11 July 2005 in Neurocase, 11(3): 157-66.
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