A psychosocial study of chronic, circumscribed amnesia

N. A. has been amnesic since 1960 when he sustained a penetrating stab wound to the region of the left dorsomedial thalamus. The amnesia occurs as a strikingly circumscribed disorder in an intelligent (IQ = 124) individual without other cognitive dysfunction. Here, we attempt to characterize the nature of this amnesic disorder as revealed in daily activities, conversations, and personality. These observations are considered in the context of current views about the nature of normal memory and its neurological foundations.