Autobiographical amnesia and accelerated forgetting in transient epileptic amnesia

Manes, F., Graham, Kim Samantha ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1512-7667, Zeman, A., de Luján Calcagno, M. and Hodges, J. R. 2005. Autobiographical amnesia and accelerated forgetting in transient epileptic amnesia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 76 (10) , pp. 1387-1391. 10.1136/jnnp.2004.036582

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Abstract

Background: Recurrent brief isolated episodes of amnesia associated with epileptiform discharges on EEG recordings have been interpreted as a distinct entity termed transient epileptic amnesia (TEA). Patients with TEA often complain of autobiographical amnesia for recent and remote events, but show normal anterograde memory. Objective: To investigate (a) accelerated long term forgetting and (b) autobiographical memory in a group of patients with TEA. Methods: Seven patients with TEA and seven age matched controls were evaluated on a range of anterograde memory tasks in two sessions separated by 6 weeks and by the Galton-Crovitz test of cued autobiographical memory. Results: Patients with TEA showed abnormal long term forgetting of verbal material, with virtually no recall after 6 weeks. In addition, there was impaired recall of autobiographical memories from the time periods 1985–89 and 1990–94 but not from 1995–1999. Conclusions: TEA is associated with accelerated loss of new information and impaired remote autobiographical memory. There are a number of possible explanations including ongoing subclinical ictal activity, medial temporal lobe damage as a result of seizure, or subtle ischaemic pathology. Future analyses should seek to clarify the relationship between aetiology, seizure frequency, and degree of memory impairment.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology Systems Immunity Research Institute (SIURI)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Publisher:	BMJ Publishing Group
ISSN:	0022-3050
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2022 09:51
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/33383

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