SPATIAL MEMORY IN AMNESIA - EVIDENCE FROM KORSAKOFF PATIENTS

Two experiments are reported which investigated a hypothesised disprop ortionate deficit in amnesic spatial memory. Korsakoff amnesic memory for the locations of objects or words placed on a grid was compared to control memory which had been attenuated by longer delays before test ing. The effects of incidental versus intentional encoding of the loca tions were compared. No significant evidence of a disproportionate spa tial memory deficit in Korsakoff amnesia was found, intentional instru ctions did not improve Korsakoff amnesic spatial memory scores, and th ere was no significant evidence of a trade-off of item memory and loca tion memory specific to the Korsakoff amnesic group. Rather, intention al instructions significantly reduced item memory in both Korsakoff am nesics and normal controls, while having no effect on spatial memory. When location was scored by lenient criteria, there was no significant difference between groups for this measure, nor for recall and recogn ition memory for these items. Thus Korsakoff amnesic memory was very s imilar to that of control memory attenuated by longer delays before te sting. The Korsakoff amnesic subjects' memory therefore differed quant itatively rather than qualitatively from that of control subjects' mem ory.