Latent learning in medial temporal amnesia: Evidence for disrupted representational but preserved attentional processes

Damage to the hippocampus and medial temporal (MT) structures can lead to a nterograde amnesia and may also impair latent learning, in which prior expo sure to cues affects their subsequent associability. Normally, latent learn ing may reflect both representational and attentional mechanisms. Prior wor k has suggested that individuals with MT amnesia have specific deficits in representational processing; thus, latent learning that invokes primarily r epresentational mechanisms might be especially impaired in MT amnesia. The current results provide preliminary confirmation of this prediction. In Exp eriment 1, a latent learning paradigm expected to invoke representational m echanisms was impaired in individuals with MT amnesia, whereas in Experimen t 2, a paradigm expected to invoke other attentional mechanisms was spared in individuals with MT amnesia. This suggests the representational and atte ntional components of latent learning are dissociable and differentially af fected in anterograde amnesia.