Kazuhito Noguchi

Dissociation between Specific Personal Episodes and other Aspects of Remote Memory in a Patient with Hippocampal Amnesia

In this paper, we describe some features of remote memory in a single-case, Y.K., with amnesic syndrome. His ability to access remote memory was investigated through a variety of tests and then analyzed in terms of specific aspects of remote memory, i.e., public events, personal semantic memory, and specific personal episodes. Although Y.K. showed relatively good performance in recalling public events, personal semantic memory, and general personal events, he was not able to recall specific personal episodes over his entire life span. That is, there appears a clear dissociation between recalling specific personal episodes and other aspects of remote memory. This suggests he lacks “richness” in his remote memory, which is probably necessary to maintain ones own identity.

I Cannot Remember, But I Know my Past Events: Remembering and Knowing in a Patient With Amnesic Syndrome

Case Y.K. has severe anterograde amnesia and a selective loss of specific personal episodes in his remote memories (Hirano & Noguchi, 1998). In this paper, we attempted to analyze remembering (R) and knowing (K) responses, that is, the relationship between autobiographical remembering and remembering accompanied by subjective experience. Although the rate of R responses was significantly higher than that of K responses in control subjects, Y.K.s R responses were rare in all subtypes of remote memories. Based on these results, we conclude that Y.K.s memories on autobiographical incident task were not based on episodic memory but rather on semantic memory. Thus, the autobiographical incidents he could recall were not episodic memory, and his semantic memory made him recall information as fact rather than episode.

Developmental order driving the relationship between executive functions and theory of mind: a case study.

Several studies have suggested there is a developmental link between executive functions and theory of mind. However, the developmental order driving the relationship is not well understood. The main reason is that the development of executive function parallels the development of theory of mind in normally developing children. In this paper, a case (H.Y.) is reported. H.Y. had lived in a persistent vegetative state for 6 years after encephalitis at the age of 10. He showed a developmental order driving the relationship between executive functions and theory of mind. These findings are consistent with recent suggestions that development of executive function might be important as a predecessor of either the ability to understand false beliefs or the ability to express that understanding.

Is processing emotional signals necessary for performance on tasks requiring understanding a "theory of mind".

In this case study, HY had lived in a persistent vegetative state for 6 years after onset of encephalitis at age 10. His processing of emotionally and socially meaningful information was impaired by the age of 20, as it is in individuals with amygdala damage; however, his performance on tasks requiring understanding a “theory of mind” improved by age 22. A series of responses to photographs of facial expressions and to a gambling task were obtained to evaluate his functioning related to the amygdala. He was particularly impaired in recognizing fear. One may tentatively suggest that processing emotional signals, i.e., functioning related to the amygdala, may not play an important role in the neural systems supporting development of understanding a “theory of mind.”

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RECOLLECTION AND AFFECTS OF CUES IN AN AMNESIC PATIENT

The individual described herein (Y.K.) is a pure amnesic patient with severe anterograde amnesia and a selective loss of specific personal episodes in his remote memories. In this study, we examined whether more concrete cues could elicit specificity in his autobiographical memory. It was found that the richness of his autobiographical memory under the condition with probes was significantly higher than condition without probes, although Y.K.s performance on recalling autobiographical memory was inferior to that of control subjects under both conditions. These results and our previous findings indicate that neither the disorder at the level of the frameworks thematic retrieval nor the destruction of individual traces will account for the loss of Y.K.s autobiographical memory. We suspect that Y.K.s loss of autobiographical memory may be due to problems in the interface between thematic retrieval frameworks and individual traces.

A case report of compensation in daily life of a person with memory problems: detailed functional use of memory aids over a five-year period.

Numerous studies have been conducted on memory aids for memory-impaired people. However, it is not known how they use these memory aids in a functional, practical way. A 20-year-old patient (MH) was monitored for five years to identify what memory aids or other means she used and how she used them to compensate for her memory problems, e.g., forgetting what was said by others in a few minutes and getting lost or turning in the wrong direction on a walk or in a building. Results indicated MH did not necessarily always use memory aids such as a notebook or calendar to compensate for her memory problems, although MH and her mother reported that she frequently used them in daily life. She coped with memory problems by using various “resources” besides the memory aid. These facts suggest that it may be necessary to redefine functionally useful compensations, which include both memory aids and resources in daily life.

知的障害特別支援学校高等部における就業体験を通して自己の課題を的確に捉えられるようにするための支援の取組 : 外部資源を活用した就業体験の事前・事後指導を通して

本研究では，知的障害特別支援学校高等部の教科「職業」において，外部資源である大学での作業活動を取り入れた就業体験の事前・事後指導の実践を行った。大学での作業は就業体験の場と近い状況であったため，緊張しながらも主体的に取り組む生徒の姿が引き出された。想定外の状況に失敗してしまう生徒もいたが，教師が支援しながら再度挑戦し成功させることができた。その結果，自信をもって就業体験に臨むことができた。事後指導においては失敗談を自ら語る生徒がおり，失敗経験が否定的なものとはならず，達成すべき課題として前向きに捉えられていた。大学での作業の場が，学校と職場の間の中間的な場として両者を橋渡しする役割を果たしており，そのような場を意図的に設定することで生徒は学校での学習と就業体験での経験とを結び付け，自身の課題について的確に認識し，主体的に改善していこうとする姿勢が身に付いていくことが示唆された。

Impairment in the recognition of facial expression: a case study

In this study, a case (HY) is described. This man, now 25 yr. old, lived in a persistent vegetative state for 6 yr. after encephalitis at the age of 10 yr. He was reportedly impaired at recognizing fear, and in everyday life, apparently had impaired recognition of anger as well. In testing with facial expressions, no obvious differences between HY and normal controls in anger perceptions were found. In this study, Japanese and Caucasian models of facial expression were used; on these tests, HY was impaired at recognizing facial expressions of anger only in the Japanese models.

Recognition and its Impairment regarding Autobiographical Memories in a Patient with Hippocampal Amnesia

Autobiographical memories of one case (Y.K.) were assessed before and after onset of hippocampal amnesia. He was a 56-yr.-old male patient who used to work in an office. The findings can be described as follows. First, Y.K.‘s recognition performance regarding his premorbid and postmorbid personal semantics along with premorbid autobiographical incidents was significantly greater than chance, and recognition of premorbid autobiographical incidents was within chance. Given information before onset, a relationship was suspected between frontal lobe dysfunction and Y.K.‘s autobiographical problem. The possibility that an amnesic patient could acquire semantic information after onset is discussed.