Cognitive deficits due to asymmetrical bilateral thalamic lesions

The cognitive deficits are described in a 20-year-old right-handed man with asymmetrical bilateral thalamic lesions and a lesion resulting in the 'loc ked-in' syndrome. Memory and intellectual assessment, modified due to the p hysical and communication difficulties, suggested that the patient had litt le impairment of verbal intelligence and performed normally on memory test involving immediate recall of new material. There was, however, considerabl e impairment of organization, planning and in the recall of visual and espe cially verbal memory, over longer periods. Remote memory was relatively int act, except for chronological errors in time-tagged material, and he was di sorientated for year, month and day.