Impaired recognition memory on the doors and people test after damage limited to the hippocampal region

There have been conflicting reports about the importance of the hippocampal region for recognition memory. Vargha-Khadem et al. (1997) described three patients who became amnesic early in life as a result of damage apparently limited to the hippocampal region. One of these patients (Jon) performed n ormally on the recognition portion of the Doors and People Test but was sev erely impaired in recall. To compare adult-onset amnesia directly with thes e early-onset cases, we tested six amnesic patients on the Doors and People Test. Three of the patients have damage thought to be limited to the hippo campal region. All six patients were markedly impaired on both the recall a nd recognition portions of the test. To account for the difference between our adult-onset cases and the early-onset case (Jon), we suggest that some compensation for ion's injury occurred during development, either due to fu nctional reorganization of cortex adjacent to the hippocampus or as the res ult of learned strategies. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.