Single case studies have played an extremely important role in the history of memory disorders research. Indeed, the patient H.M. is nearly synonymous with the concept of amnesia and results with patients N.A. and S.S. have been pivotal in our brief history. The importance of these patients as benchmarks in the study of memory disorders is largely due to the degree of purity and lack of variability that they bring to the task. Control over extraneous neuropsychological deficiencies is increased by virtue of the precision with which these characteristics can be detailed or obviated. This precision allows for a finer-grained analysis of the factors contributing to the specific memory disorders exhibited by the patients. Control is not the sole justification for conducting single case studies, however. Another rationale for studying individuals is provided by the vast number of instances in which new elements of understanding amnesia occur simply through explanations given by these patients or unusual performances observed during their testing. These insights often lead to new areas of investigation; thus, it can be seen that single cases provide a fertile area for creativity as well as being reliable testing grounds. The approach used here for the testing of single cases is the multi-task, converging operations, approach. Once an area of inquiry is defined, the patient receives a series of tests designed to eliminate all potential contributors to a deficit until the major underlying determinants have been quantified. In the current proposal, we intend to use this approach to investigate: Conceptual versus perceptual priming abilities in H.M., accelerated forgetting in temporal lobe epilepsy patients; characteristics of remote memory in a post-encephalitic patient (S.S.), reasons for global amnesia in a unilaterally involved brain-injured patient, semantic memory deficits in a patient with anomia but normal anterograde ability, and the contribution of temporal discrimination deficits to confabulation. In addition, this flexible approach to the study of future referrals ensures that other as yet undetected characteristics of the amnesic syndrome will emerge.
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