Memory Research Group, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.
Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.
Cereb Cortex. 2022 Apr 5;32(8):1637-1652. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab290.
A central debate in the systems neuroscience of memory concerns whether different medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures support different processes in recognition memory. Using two recognition memory paradigms, we tested a rare patient (MH) with a perirhinal lesion that appeared to spare the hippocampus. Consistent with a similar previous case, MH showed impaired familiarity and preserved recollection. When compared with patients with hippocampal lesions appearing to spare perirhinal cortex, MH showed greater impairment on familiarity and less on recollection. Nevertheless, the hippocampal patients also showed impaired familiarity compared with healthy controls. However, when replacing this traditional categorization of patients with analyses relating memory performance to continuous measures of damage across patients, hippocampal volume uniquely predicted recollection, whereas parahippocampal, rather than perirhinal, volume uniquely predicted familiarity. We consider whether the familiarity impairment in MH and our patients with hippocampal lesions arises from "subthreshold" damage to parahippocampal cortex (PHC). Our data provide the most compelling neuropsychological support yet for dual-process models of recognition memory, whereby recollection and familiarity depend on different MTL structures, and may support a role for PHC in familiarity. Our study highlights the value of supplementing single-case studies with examinations of continuous brain-behavior relationships across larger patient groups.
记忆的系统神经科学中的一个核心争论是不同的内侧颞叶（MTL）结构是否支持识别记忆中的不同过程。我们使用两种识别记忆范式，测试了一位表现出旁海马区损伤而海马似乎未受影响的罕见患者（MH）。与之前的类似病例一致，MH 表现出熟悉感受损而回忆能力保留。与海马损伤似乎未影响旁海马区的患者相比，MH 在熟悉感上的损伤更大，而在回忆上的损伤更小。然而，海马损伤的患者与健康对照组相比，熟悉感也受损。但是，当我们将患者的记忆表现与患者之间的连续损伤测量值相关联的分析来替代这种传统的分类时，海马体积是唯一可以预测回忆的因素，而旁海马区（而非旁海马区）体积是唯一可以预测熟悉感的因素。我们考虑了 MH 患者和我们的海马损伤患者的熟悉感损伤是否是由于旁海马区皮层（PHC）的“亚阈值”损伤引起的。我们的数据为识别记忆的双过程模型提供了迄今为止最有说服力的神经心理学支持，即回忆和熟悉感取决于不同的 MTL 结构，并且可能支持 PHC 在熟悉感中的作用。我们的研究强调了在更大的患者群体中补充连续的脑-行为关系的单一案例研究的价值。
