Pure topographical disorientation in novel environments without anterograde amnesia: a case study.

Topographical disorientation (TD) in novel environments is considered to be a part of anterograde amnesia. A 56-year-old woman presented with pure TD only in novel environments following limbic encephalitis. She could not remember directions inside the hospital on weekly outpatient visits; however, her verbal and visual anterograde memories were normal. In the test of learning photographs of scenes, faces, and objects, only her scores for landscapes were worse than those in healthy controls. These findings suggested that her TD specific to landscapes and directions in novel environments was caused by category-specific memory impairment related to bilateral hippocampal and parahippocampal dysfunction.