DO AMNESICS FORGET COLORS PATHOLOGICALLY FAST

We tested amnesic and control subjects on a task which required the re cognition of single, difficult to name colours, after delays ranging f rom 7 seconds to 120 seconds after performance of the two subject grou ps had been matched at the shortest delay by giving the amnesic patien ts longer study time. The amnesic patients showed abnormally fast forg etting over the two minute period. Furthermore, a subgroup of nine sub jects with presumed damage to midline diencephalic structures (Korsako ff's syndrome) were found to forget as fast as a group of six subjects with presumed medial temporal lobe damage (herpes simplex encephaliti s). These results contrast both with studies using the Huppert and Pie rcy procedure and those using the Brown-Peterson task, none of which h ave shown convincing evidence of accelerated forgetting in medial temp oral lobe or diencephalic amnesia.