This project focuses on an information processing analysis of the amnesic patient's impaired and intact performance on verbal memory tasks, with the goal of specifying the nature of the memory processes that do and do not depend on the medial temporal and diencephalic brain structures damaged in amnesia. The first section of this proposal explores in detail the phenomenon of implicit memory in amnesia and focuses specifically on amnesiacs' ability to demonstrate priming for newly formed verbal associations. In order to specify which forms of associative learning depend on the medial temporal and diencephalic regions, the researchers will systematically investigate amnesiacs' performance across a range of implicit memory tasks in which new associative priming occurs at a perceptual, lexical, or conceptual level. The second section of this proposal focuses on amnesiacs' performance on explicit memory tasks and examines whether familiarity-based explicit memory is impaired to the same extent as is recollection-based explicit memory. The researchers address this question by directly measuring recollection and familiarity within a single task, both in terms of underlying processes and associated levels of awareness. They will also examine whether amnesiacs are equally impaired on different explicit memory tasks that are thought to differ in their underlying processing demands. Finally, they will examine the effect on amnesiacs' performance of several manipulations that selectively influence recollection. The third section of this proposal will examine the occurrence of memory illusions in amnesia by using a paradigm in both explicit and implicit memory, this line of studies provides a link to the other two lines of studies in this proposal.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH057681-04
Application #
6363692
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-BRB-I (02))
Program Officer
Kurtzman, Howard S
Project Start
1998-03-10
Project End
2003-02-28
Budget Start
2001-03-01
Budget End
2002-02-28
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$111,594
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Neurology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
604483045
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Verfaelllie, Mieke; LaRocque, Karen F; Keane, Margaret M (2012) Intact implicit verbal relational memory in medial temporal lobe amnesia. Neuropsychologia 50:2100-6
Kan, Irene P; Keane, Margaret M; Martin, Elizabeth et al. (2011) Implicit memory for novel associations between pictures: effects of stimulus unitization and aging. Mem Cognit 39:778-90
Marsolek, Chad J; Deason, Rebecca G; Ketz, Nicholas A et al. (2010) Identifying objects impairs knowledge of other objects: a relearning explanation for the neural repetition effect. Neuroimage 49:1919-32
Ford, Jaclyn Hennessey; Verfaellie, Mieke; Giovanello, Kelly S (2010) Neural correlates of familiarity-based associative retrieval. Neuropsychologia 48:3019-25
Giovanello, Kelly Sullivan; Schnyer, David; Verfaellie, Mieke (2009) Distinct hippocampal regions make unique contributions to relational memory. Hippocampus 19:111-7
Keane, Margaret M; Martin, Elizabeth; Verfaellie, Mieke (2009) Performance benefits and costs in forced choice perceptual identification in amnesia: Effects of prior exposure and word frequency. Mem Cognit 37:655-66
Kan, Irene P; Alexander, Michael P; Verfaellie, Mieke (2009) Contribution of prior semantic knowledge to new episodic learning in amnesia. J Cogn Neurosci 21:938-44
Schnyer, David M; Dobbins, Ian G; Nicholls, Lindsay et al. (2007) Item to decision mapping in rapid response learning. Mem Cognit 35:1472-82
Kan, Irene P; Giovanello, Kelly S; Schnyer, David M et al. (2007) Role of the medial temporal lobes in relational memory: neuropsychological evidence from a cued recognition paradigm. Neuropsychologia 45:2589-97
Nichols, Elizabeth A; Kao, Yun-Ching; Verfaellie, Mieke et al. (2006) Working memory and long-term memory for faces: Evidence from fMRI and global amnesia for involvement of the medial temporal lobes. Hippocampus 16:604-16

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