Ameliorating Episodic Memory Deficits in a Young Adult With Developmental (Congenital) Amnesia

Although the spacing effect has been investigated extensively in a variety of populations, few studies have focused on individuals with hippocampal amnesia and none, to our knowledge, have investigated differences in performance as a function of spacing schedule in these cases. In the current study, we investigated the benefit of expanding and equal-interval, compared to massed, spacing schedules in a developmental amnesic person, H.C., who shows congenitally based abnormal development of the hippocampal memory system.

Given the possibility of plasticity and reorganization in the developing brain, we investigated whether H.C. would benefit more from an expanding versus equal-interval schedule using a continuous recognition paradigm, even though this task has been shown to recruit structures within the medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus.

H.C. and matched controls both showed a clear spacing effect, although neither group benefited more from an equal-interval or expanding spacing schedule.

The results of the current study show that the spacing effect is an effective and clinically meaningful memory intervention technique that may be applied to clinical conditions known to affect hippocampal function and episodic memory early in life. (JINS, 2018, 24, 1003-1012).