Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry logoLink to Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
. 1999 Feb;66(2):148–154. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.66.2.148

Episodic memory in transient global amnesia: encoding, storage, or retrieval deficit?

F Eustache 1, B Desgranges 1, P Laville 1, B Guillery 1, C Lalevee 1, S Schaeffer 1, V de la Sayette 1, S Iglesias 1, J Baron 1, F Viader 1
PMCID: PMC1736229  PMID: 10071092

Abstract

OBJECTIVES—To assess episodic memory (especially anterograde amnesia) during the acute phase of transient global amnesia to differentiate an encoding, a storage, or a retrieval deficit.
METHODS—In three patients, whose amnestic episode fulfilled all current criteria for transient global amnesia, a neuropsychological protocol was administered which included a word learning task derived from the Grober and Buschke's procedure.
RESULTS—In one patient, the results suggested an encoding deficit, and in two others, a storage deficit.
CONCLUSIONS—The encoding/storage impairment concerning anterograde amnesia documented in our patients stands in clear contrast with the impairment in retrieval which must underly the retrograde amnesia that also characterises transient global amnesia. This dissociation in turn favours the idea of a functional independence among the cognitive mechanisms that subserve episodic memory.



Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (119.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baddeley A. The fractionation of working memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Nov 26;93(24):13468–13472. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.24.13468. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baron J. C., Petit-Taboué M. C., Le Doze F., Desgranges B., Ravenel N., Marchal G. Right frontal cortex hypometabolism in transient global amnesia. A PET study. Brain. 1994 Jun;117(Pt 3):545–552. doi: 10.1093/brain/117.3.545. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Caffarra P., Moretti G., Mazzucchi A., Parma M. Neuropsychological testing during a transient global amnesia episode and its follow-up. Acta Neurol Scand. 1981 Jan;63(1):44–50. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1981.tb00747.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cardebat D., Doyon B., Puel M., Goulet P., Joanette Y. Evocation lexicale formelle et sémantique chez des sujets normaux. Performances et dynamiques de production en fonction du sexe, de l'âge et du niveau d'étude. Acta Neurol Belg. 1990;90(4):207–217. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cermak L. S. A positive approach to viewing processing deficit theories of amnesia. Memory. 1997 Jan-Mar;5(1-2):89–98. doi: 10.1080/741941148. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cermak L. S., O'Connor M. The anterograde and retrograde retrieval ability of a patient with amnesia due to encephalitis. Neuropsychologia. 1983;21(3):213–234. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(83)90039-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Desgranges B., Eustache F., Rioux P., de La Sayette V., Lechevalier B. Memory disorders in Alzheimer's disease and the organization of human memory. Cortex. 1996 Sep;32(3):387–412. doi: 10.1016/s0010-9452(96)80001-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Eustache F., Desgranges B., Petit-Taboué M. C., de la Sayette V., Piot V., Sablé C., Marchal G., Baron J. C. Transient global amnesia: implicit/explicit memory dissociation and PET assessment of brain perfusion and oxygen metabolism in the acute stage. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1997 Sep;63(3):357–367. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.63.3.357. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Evans J., Wilson B., Wraight E. P., Hodges J. R. Neuropsychological and SPECT scan findings during and after transient global amnesia: evidence for the differential impairment of remote episodic memory. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1993 Nov;56(11):1227–1230. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.56.11.1227. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Goldenberg G., Podreka I., Pfaffelmeyer N., Wessely P., Deecke L. Thalamic ischemia in transient global amnesia: a SPECT study. Neurology. 1991 Nov;41(11):1748–1752. doi: 10.1212/wnl.41.11.1748. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Gordon B., Marin O. S. Transient global amnesia: an extensive case report. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1979 Jun;42(6):572–575. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.42.6.572. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hodges J. R., Oxbury S. M. Persistent memory impairment following transient global amnesia. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 1990 Dec;12(6):904–920. doi: 10.1080/01688639008401030. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hodges J. R. Semantic memory and frontal executive function during transient global amnesia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1994 May;57(5):605–608. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.57.5.605. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hodges J. R., Ward C. D. Observations during transient global amnesia. A behavioural and neuropsychological study of five cases. Brain. 1989 Jun;112(Pt 3):595–620. doi: 10.1093/brain/112.3.595. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hodges J. R., Warlow C. P. Syndromes of transient amnesia: towards a classification. A study of 153 cases. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1990 Oct;53(10):834–843. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.53.10.834. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kapur N., Abbott P., Footitt D., Millar J. Long-term perceptual priming in transient global amnesia. Brain Cogn. 1996 Jun;31(1):63–74. doi: 10.1006/brcg.1996.0025. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kapur N. Focal retrograde amnesia in neurological disease: a critical review. Cortex. 1993 Jun;29(2):217–234. doi: 10.1016/s0010-9452(13)80177-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Keane M. M., Gabrieli J. D., Monti L. A., Fleischman D. A., Cantor J. M., Noland J. S. Intact and impaired conceptual memory processes in amnesia. Neuropsychology. 1997 Jan;11(1):59–69. doi: 10.1037//0894-4105.11.1.59. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Kritchevsky M., Squire L. R. Transient global amnesia: evidence for extensive, temporally graded retrograde amnesia. Neurology. 1989 Feb;39(2 Pt 1):213–218. doi: 10.1212/wnl.39.2.213. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Kritchevsky M., Squire L. R., Zouzounis J. A. Transient global amnesia: characterization of anterograde and retrograde amnesia. Neurology. 1988 Feb;38(2):213–219. doi: 10.1212/wnl.38.2.213. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Lin K. N., Liu R. S., Yeh T. P., Wang S. J., Liu H. C. Posterior ischemia during an attack of transient global amnesia. Stroke. 1993 Jul;24(7):1093–1095. doi: 10.1161/01.str.24.7.1093. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Mayes A. R., Downes J. J., Shoqeirat M., Hall C., Sagar H. J. Encoding ability is preserved in amnesia: evidence from a direct test of encoding. Neuropsychologia. 1993 Aug;31(8):745–759. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(93)90126-k. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Mayes A. R., Downes J. J. What do theories of the functional deficit(s) underlying amnesia have to explain? Memory. 1997 Jan-Mar;5(1-2):3–36. doi: 10.1080/741941147. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Mazzucchi A., Moretti G., Caffarra P., Parma M. Neuropsychological functions in the follow-up of transient global amnesia. Brain. 1980 Mar;103(1):161–178. doi: 10.1093/brain/103.1.161. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Murre J. M. Implicit and explicit memory in amnesia: some explanations and predictions by the TraceLink model. Memory. 1997 Jan-Mar;5(1-2):213–232. doi: 10.1080/741941155. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Murre J. M. TraceLink: a model of amnesia and consolidation of memory. Hippocampus. 1996;6(6):675–684. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-1063(1996)6:6<675::AID-HIPO10>3.0.CO;2-Y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. O'Connor M., Butters N., Miliotis P., Eslinger P., Cermak L. S. The dissociation of anterograde and retrograde amnesia in a patient with herpes encephalitis. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 1992 Mar;14(2):159–178. doi: 10.1080/01688639208402821. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Regard M., Landis T. Transient global amnesia: neuropsychological dysfunction during attack and recovery in two "pure" cases. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1984 Jul;47(7):668–672. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.47.7.668. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Schmidtke K., Vollmer H. Retrograde amnesia: a study of its relation to anterograde amnesia and semantic memory deficits. Neuropsychologia. 1997 Apr;35(4):505–518. doi: 10.1016/s0028-3932(96)00109-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Stillhard G., Landis T., Schiess R., Regard M., Sialer G. Bitemporal hypoperfusion in transient global amnesia: 99m-Tc-HM-PAO SPECT and neuropsychological findings during and after an attack. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1990 Apr;53(4):339–342. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.53.4.339. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES