The case of K.C.: contributions of a memory-impaired person to memory theory

Rosenbaum, R. Shayna; Köhler, Stefan; Schacter, Daniel L.; Moscovitch, Morris; Westmacott, Robyn; Black, Sandra E.; Gao, Fuqiang; Tulving, Endel

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.10.007

Cited by 316 publications

(220 citation statements)

References 131 publications

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“…Although a growing body of data supports the context processing account of hippocampal function, impairment of episodic memory is a well-documented consequence of hippocampal damage in humans (Vargha-Khadem et al, 1997;Tulving and Markowitsch, 1998;Rosenbaum et al, 2005), and the effects of lesions in animals are consistent with this idea (Agster et al, 2002;Ergorul and Eichenbaum, 2004). One possible explanation is that these episodic memory impairments are secondary to context processing deficits.…”

Section: Could Episodic Memory Impairments Results From Context Procesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hippocampal place cells, context, and episodic memory

2006

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ABSTRACT:Although most observers agree that the hippocampus has a critical role in learning and memory, there remains considerable debate about the precise functional contribution of the hippocampus to these processes. Two of the most influential accounts hold that the primary function of the hippocampus is to generate cognitive maps and to mediate episodic memory processes. The well-documented spatial firing patterns (place fields) of hippocampal neurons in rodents, along with the spatial learning impairments observed with hippocampal damage support the cognitive mapping hypothesis. The amnesia for personally experienced events seen in humans with hippocampal damage and the data of animal models, which show severe memory deficits associated with hippocampal lesions, support the episodic memory account. Although an extensive literature supports each of these hypotheses, a specific contribution of place cells to episodic memory has not been clearly demonstrated. Recent data from our laboratory, together with previous findings, indicate that hippocampal place fields and neuronal responses to task-relevant stimuli are highly sensitive to the context, even when the contexts are defined by abstract task demands rather than the spatial geometry of the environment. On the basis of these findings, it is proposed that place fields reflect a more general context processing function of the hippocampus. Hippocampal context representations could serve to differentiate contexts and prime the relevant memories and behaviors. Since episodic memories, by definition, include information about the time and place where the episode occurred, contextual information is a necessary prerequisite for any episodic memory. Thus, place fields contribute importantly to episodic memory as part of the needed context representations. Additionally, recent findings indicate that hippocampal neurons differentiate contexts at progressively finer levels of detail, suggesting a hierarchical coding scheme which, if combined with temporal information, could provide a means of differentiating memory episodes. V V C 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Section: Could Episodic Memory Impairments Results From Context Procesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hippocampal place cells, context, and episodic memory

2006

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“…Patient K.C. has significant damage in frontal, parietal, and occipital cortices (Rosenbaum et al, 2005), patient V.C. has evidence of hypometabolism in the right thalamus and in right parietal cortex , patient R.S.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fate of Old Memories after Medial Temporal Lobe Damage

Bayley¹,

Hopkins²,

Squire³

2006

J. Neurosci.

105

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Damage to the hippocampal region and related medial temporal lobe structures (perirhinal, entorhinal, and parahippocampal cortices) impairs new learning (anterograde amnesia) as well as memory for information that was acquired before the damage occurred (retrograde amnesia). We assessed retrograde amnesia with the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) and with a news events test in six patients with damage limited primarily to the hippocampal region (H group) and two patients with large medial temporal lobe lesions (MTL group). On the news event test, the H group exhibited temporally limited retrograde amnesia covering ϳ5 years. On the same test, the MTL group exhibited an extensive retrograde amnesia covering decades. Nevertheless, performance was relatively spared for very remote time periods. On the AMI, all patients had intact remote autobiographical memory. Because our patients with hippocampal lesions, as well as our patients with large MTL lesions, performed normally on the AMI, patients who perform poorly on the same test presumably have damage beyond the hippocampus and related structures in the medial temporal lobe. The findings emphasize the difference in the extent of retrograde amnesia associated with hippocampal lesions and large MTL lesions.

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“…By contrast, EFs largely rely on the integrity of prefrontal and other frontal regions, and to some extent of parietal cortex (Friedman & Miyake, 2017; Gläscher et al, 2009). Earlier seminal works conducted on patients with focal brain lesions showed that EM and EFs, although functionally related, are in part behaviorally dissociable, that is, patients with selective MTL damage display EFs within normal psychometric ranges (Augustinack et al, 2014; Buckner, 2004; McKenna & Gerhand, 2002; Rosenbaum et al, 2005), while patients suffering from prefrontal insult demonstrate relatively preserved aspects of EM, especially in recognition memory (Milner, Corsi, & Leonard, 1991; Shimamura, Janowsky, & Squire, 1990; Wheeler & Stuss, 2003). Recent functional neuroimaging investigations have confirmed previous lesion studies and additionally revealed the existence of a distributed network subserving both EM and EFs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Episodic memory and executive functions in cognitively healthy individuals display distinct neuroanatomical correlates which are differentially modulated by aging

Cacciaglia

Molinuevo

Sánchez‐Benavides

et al. 2018

Human Brain Mapping

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The neuroanatomical bases of episodic memory (EM) and executive functions (EFs) have been widely addressed in patients with brain damage and in individuals with neurologic disorders. These studies reported that larger brain structures support better outcomes in both cognitive domains, thereby supporting the “bigger is better” account. However, relatively few studies have explored the cerebral morphological properties underlying EM and EFs in cognitively healthy individuals and current findings indicate no unitary theoretical explanation for the structure–function relationship. Moreover, existing studies have typically restricted the analyses to a priori defined regions of interest. Here we conducted unbiased voxel‐wise analysis of the associations between regional gray as well as white matter volumes (GMv; WMv) and performance in both cognitive domains in a sample of 463 cognitively intact individuals. We found that efficiency in EM was predicted by lower GMv in brain areas belonging to the default‐mode network (DMN). By contrast, EFs performance was predicted by larger GMv in a distributed set of regions, which overlapped with the executive control network (ECN). Volume of white matter bundles supporting both cross‐cortical and interhemispheric connections was positively related to processing speed. Furthermore, aging modulated the relationship between regional volumes and cognitive performance in several areas including the hippocampus and frontal cortex. Our data extend the critical role of the DMN and ECN by showing that variability in their morphological properties, and not only their activation patterns, affects EM and EFs, respectively. Moreover, our finding that aging reverts these associations supports previously advanced theories of cognitive neurodevelopment.

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The case of K.C.: contributions of a memory-impaired person to memory theory

Cited by 316 publications

References 131 publications

Hippocampal place cells, context, and episodic memory

Hippocampal place cells, context, and episodic memory

The Fate of Old Memories after Medial Temporal Lobe Damage

Episodic memory and executive functions in cognitively healthy individuals display distinct neuroanatomical correlates which are differentially modulated by aging

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