Although amnesic H.M. typically could not recall where or when he met someone, he could recall their topics of conversation after long interference-filled delays, suggesting impaired encoding for some categories of novel events but not others. Similarly, H.M. successfully encoded into internal representations (sentence plans) some novel linguistic structures but not others in the present language production studies. For example, on the Test of Language Competence (TLC), H.M. produced uncorrected errors when encoding a wide range of novel linguistic structures, e.g., violating reliably more gender constraints than memory-normal controls when encoding referent-noun, pronoun-antecedent, and referent-pronoun anaphora, as when he erroneously and without correction used the gender-inappropriate pronoun “her” to refer to a man. In contrast, H.M. never violated corresponding referent-gender constraints for proper names, suggesting that his mechanisms for encoding proper name gender-agreement were intact. However, H.M. produced no more dysfluencies, off-topic comments, false starts, neologisms, or word and phonological sequencing errors than controls on the TLC. Present results suggest that: (a) frontal mechanisms for retrieving and sequencing word, phrase, and phonological categories are intact in H.M., unlike in category-specific aphasia; (b) encoding mechanisms in the hippocampal region are category-specific rather than item-specific, applying to, e.g., proper names rather than words; (c) H.M.’s category-specific mechanisms for encoding referents into words, phrases, and propositions are impaired, with the exception of referent gender, person, and number for encoding proper names; and (d) H.M. overuses his intact proper name encoding mechanisms to compensate for his impaired mechanisms for encoding other functionally equivalent linguistic information.
References
[1]
Lashley, K.S. The problem of serial order in behavior. In Cerebral Mechanisms in Behavior; Jeffress, L.A., Ed.; Hafner: New York, NY, USA, 1951; pp. 112–136.
[2]
MacKay, D.G.; Johnson, L.W.; Fazel, V.; James, L.E. Compensating for language deficits in amnesia I: H.M.’s spared retrieval categories. Brain Sci. 2013, 3, 262–293.
[3]
H.M. died at age 82 in 2008. Our use of present tense refers not to the present publication date but to H.M. when tested from ages 44 to 71 in the present research
[4]
Duff, M.C.; Gupta, R.; Hengst, J.A.; Tranel, D.; Cohen, N.J. The use of definite references signals declarative memory: Evidence from patients with hippocampal amnesia. Psychol. Sci. 2011, 22, 666–673, doi:10.1177/0956797611404897.
[5]
Marslen-Wilson, W. Biographical interviews with H.M. 1970Unpublished transcript. Available online: http://www.mackay.bol.ucla.edu (accessed on 15 October 2012).
[6]
Bayley, P.J.; Squire, L.R. Medial temporal lobe amnesia: Gradual acquisition of factual information by nondeclarative memory. J. Neurosci. 2002, 22, 5741–5748.
[7]
Brown, G.D.A.; Della Sala, S.; Foster, J.K.; Vousden, J.I. Amnesia, rehearsal, and temporal distinctiveness models of recall. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 2007, 14, 256–260, doi:10.3758/BF03194061.
[8]
Huppert, F.A.; Piercy, M. Dissociation between learning and remembering in organic amnesia. Nature 1978, 275, 317–318, doi:10.1038/275317a0.
Keane, M.M.; Gabrieli, J.D.E.; Mapstone, H.C.; Johnson, K.A.; Corkin, S. Double dissociation of memory capacities after bilateral occipital-lobe or medial temporal-lobe lesions. Brain 1995, 118, 1129–1148, doi:10.1093/brain/118.5.1129.
[11]
MacKay, D.G.; James, L.E.; Hadley, C.B. Amnesic H.M.’s performance on the language competence test: Parallel deficits in memory and sentence production. J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol. 2008, 30, 280–300, doi:10.1080/13803390701380609.
[12]
MacKay, D.G.; James, L.E.; Taylor, J.; Marian, D.E. Amnesic H.M. exhibits parallel deficits and sparing in language and memory: Systems versus binding theory accounts. Lang. Cogn. Process. 2007, 22, 377–452, doi:10.1080/01690960600652596.
[13]
MacKay, D.G.; Stewart, R.; Burke, D.M. H.M. revisited: Relations between language comprehension, memory, and the hippocampal system. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 1998, 10, 377–394, doi:10.1162/089892998562807.
[14]
Skotko, B.G.; Kensinger, E.A.; Locascio, J.J.; Einstein, G.; Rubin, D.C.; Tupler, L.A.; Krendl, A.; Corkin, S. Puzzling thoughts for H.M.: Can new semantic information be anchored to old semantic memories? Neuropsychology 2004, 18, 756–769, doi:10.1037/0894-4105.18.4.756.
Strauss, M.E.; Weingartner, H.; Thompson, K. Remembering words and how often they occurred in memory-impaired patients. Mem. Cogn. 1985, 13, 507–510, doi:10.3758/BF03198321.
[17]
Verfaellie, M.; Rajaram, S.; Fossum, K.; Williams, L. Not all repetition is alike: Different benefits of repetition in amnesia and normal memory. J. Int. Neuropsychol. Soc. 2008, 14, 365–372, doi:10.1017/S1355617708080612.
[18]
Weingartner, H.; Eckardt, M.; Grafman, J.; Molchan, S.; Putnam, K.; Rawlings, R.; Sunderland, T. The effects of repetition on memory performance in cognitively impaired patients. Neuropsychology 1993, 7, 385–395, doi:10.1037/0894-4105.7.3.385.
[19]
Gabrieli, J.D.E.; Cohen, N.J.; Corkin, S. The impaired learning of semantic knowledge following bilateral medial temporal-lobe resection. Brain Cogn. 1988, 7, 157–177, doi:10.1016/0278-2626(88)90027-9.
[20]
MacKay, D.G.; James, L.E. The binding problem for syntax, semantics, and prosody: H.M.’s selective sentence-reading deficits under the theoretical-syndrome approach. Lang. Cogn. Process. 2001, 16, 419–460, doi:10.1080/01690960042000102.
[21]
MacKay, D.G.; James, L.E. Aging, retrograde amnesia, and the binding problem for phonology and orthography: A longitudinal study of “hippocampal amnesic” H.M. Aging Neuropsychol. Cogn. 2002, 9, 298–333, doi:10.1076/anec.9.4.298.8774.
[22]
MacKay, D.G.; Burke, D.M.; Stewart, R. H.M.’s language production deficits: Implications for relations between memory, semantic binding, and the hippocampal system. J. Mem. Lang. 1998, 38, 28–69, doi:10.1006/jmla.1997.2544.
[23]
MacKay, D.G.; Johnson, L.W. Error detection, error correction, and medial temporal lobe amnesia: H.M. and mirror neuron theory. Neuropsychologia 2012. submitted for publication.
Wiig, E.H.; Secord, W. Test of Language Competence: Expanded Edition; Psychological Corporation: San Antonio, TX, USA, 1988.
[26]
Arrows in this and other examples of errors link the intended utterance in italics on the left with the produced utterance in quotations on the right, and stand for “was misproduced as”
[27]
Fromkin, V.A. Appendix: A sample of speech errors. In Speech Errors as Linguistic Evidence; Mouton: The Hague, The Netherlands, 1973; pp. 243–269.
[28]
Salat, D.H.; van der Kouwe, A.J.W.; Tuch, D.S.; Quinn, B.T.; Fischl, B.; Dale, A.M.; Corkin, S. Neuroimaging H.M.: A 10-year follow-up examination. Hippocampus 2006, 16, 936–945, doi:10.1002/hipo.20222.
[29]
Cohen, E.D. C. G. Jung and the Scientific Attitude; Philosophical Library: New York, NY, USA, 1975.
[30]
Garnham, A.; Shillcock, R.C.; Brown, G.D.A.; Mill, A.I.D.; Cutler, A. Slips of the tongue in the London-Lund corpus of spontaneous conversation. In Slips of the Tongue and Language Production; Cutler, A., Ed.; Mouton: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1982; pp. 251–263.
[31]
MacKay, D.G.; James, L.E. Visual cognition in amnesic H.M.: Selective deficits on the What’s-Wrong-Here and Hidden-Figure tasks. J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol. 2009, 31, 769–789, doi:10.1080/13803390802502606.
[32]
MacKay, D.G.; Hadley, C.B. Supra-normal age-linked retrograde amnesia: Lessons from an older amnesic (H.M.). Hippocampus 2009, 19, 424–445, doi:10.1002/hipo.20531.
[33]
Meringer, R.; Mayer, K. Versprechen und Verlesen; Goschensche Verlag: Stuttgart, Germany, 1895.
[34]
Fromkin, V.A. The non-anomalous nature of anomalous utterances. Language 1971, 47, 27–52, doi:10.2307/412187.
[35]
Levelt, W.J.M. Speaking: From Intention to Articulation; MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 1989.
[36]
MacKay, D.G.; James, L.E. Sequencing, speech production, and selective effects of aging on phonological and morphological speech errors. Psychol. Aging 2004, 19, 93–107, doi:10.1037/0882-7974.19.1.93.
[37]
MacKay, D.G. Forward and backward masking in motor systems. Kybernetik 1969, 64, 57–64.
[38]
MacKay, D.G. Spoonerisms: The structure of errors in the serial order of speech. Neuropsychologia 1970, 8, 323–350, doi:10.1016/0028-3932(70)90078-3.
[39]
MacKay, D.G. The structure of words and syllables: Evidence from errors in speech. Cogn. Psychol. 1972, 3, 210–227, doi:10.1016/0010-0285(72)90004-7.
[40]
MacKay, D.G. Complexity in output systems: Evidence from behavioral hybrids. Am. J. Psychol. 1973, 86, 785–806, doi:10.2307/1422086.
[41]
Marshall, J.; Robson, J.; Pring, T.; Chiat, S. Why does monitoring fail in jargon aphasia? Comprehension, judgment, and therapy evidence. Brain Lang. 1998, 107, 79–107, doi:10.1006/brln.1997.1936.
[42]
Schlenck, K.-J.; Huber, W.; Willmes, K. “Prepairs” and repairs: Different monitoring functions in aphasic language production. Brain Lang. 1987, 30, 226–244, doi:10.1016/0093-934X(87)90100-3.
[43]
Shuren, J.E.; Hammond, C.S.; Maher, L.M.; Rothi, L.J.; Heilman, K.M. Attention and anosognosia: The case of a jargonaphasic patient with unawareness of language deficit. Neurology 1995, 45, 376–378, doi:10.1212/WNL.45.2.376.
[44]
Boomer, D.S.; Laver, J.D.M. Slips of the tongue. Int. J. Lang. Commun. Dis. 1968, 3, 2–12, doi:10.3109/13682826809011435.
[45]
Baars, B.J. Eliciting predictable speech errors in the laboratory. In Errors in Linguistic Performance: Slips of the Tongue, Ear, Pen, and Hand; Fromkin, V.A., Ed.; Academic Press: New York, NY, USA, 1980; pp. 307–318.
[46]
Chomsky, N. Syntactic Structures; Mouton: The Hague, The Netherlands, 1957.
[47]
Dryer, M. A. Noun phrase structure. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Complex Constructions; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2007; pp. 151–205.
[48]
Givón, T. Syntax: An Introduction; John Benjamins: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2001.
[49]
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed.; Houghton Mifflin: Boston, MA, USA, 2000.
[50]
Aitchison, J.; Straf, M. Lexical storage and retrieval: A developing skill? In Slips of the Tongue and Language Production; Cutler, A., Ed.; Mouton: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1982; pp. 197–241.
[51]
Fay, D.; Cutler, A. Malapropisms and the structure of the mental lexicon. Linguist. Inq. 1977, 8, 505–520.
Skotko, B.G.; Andrews, E.; Einstein, G. Language and the medial temporal lobe: Evidence from H.M.’s spontaneous discourse. J. Mem. Lang. 2005, 53, 397–415, doi:10.1016/j.jml.2005.05.003.
[54]
Although one rural American dialect accepts “doesn’t got” as grammatical, this dialect is neither apparent in other aspects of his speech nor spoken in Connecticut where H.M. grew up and lived
[55]
MacKay, D.G. Prototypicality among metaphors: On the relative frequency of personification and spatial metaphors in literature written for children versus adults. Metaphor Symb. Act. 1986, 1, 87–107, doi:10.1207/s15327868ms0102_1.
[56]
Wickelgren, W.A. Chunking and consolidation: A theoretical synthesis of semantic networks, configuring in conditioning, S-R versus cognitive learning, normal forgetting, the amnesic syndrome, and the hippocampal arousal system. Psychol. Rev. 1979, 86, 44–60, doi:10.1037/0033-295X.86.1.44.
[57]
Kroll, N.E.A.; Knight, R.T.; Metcalfe, J.; Wolf, E.S.; Tulving, E. Cohesion failure as a source of memory illusions. J. Mem. Lang. 1996, 35, 176–196, doi:10.1006/jmla.1996.0010.
[58]
Knott, R.; Marslen-Wilson, W. Does the medial temporal lobe bind phonological memories? J. Cogn. Neurosci. 2001, 13, 593–609, doi:10.1162/089892901750363181.
[59]
Duff, M.C.; Brown-Schmidt, S. The hippocampus and the flexible use and processing of language. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 2012, 6, 1–11.
[60]
Squire, L.R.; Shimamura, A.P.; Amaral, D.G. Memory and the hippocampus. In Neural Models of Plasticity: Experimental and Theoretical Approaches; Byrne, J.H., Berry, W.O., Eds.; Academic Press: San Diego, CA, USA, 1989.
[61]
MacKay, D.G. Lexical insertion, inflection, and derivation: Creative processes in word production. J. Psycholinguist. Res. 1979, 8, 477–498.
[62]
Cooper, P.V. Discourse production and normal aging: Performance on oral picture description tasks. J. Gerontol. Psychol. Sci. 1990, 45, P210–P214.
[63]
Glosser, G.; Deser, T. A comparison of changes in macrolinguistic and microlinguistic aspects of discourse production in normal aging. J. Gerontol. Psychol. Sci. 1992, 47, P266–P272.
[64]
Kemper, S. Language and aging. In The Handbook of Aging and Cognition; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, NJ, USA, 1992; pp. 213–270.
[65]
Kemper, S. Adults’ sentence fragments: Who, what, when, where, and why. Commun. Res. 1992, 19, 444–458, doi:10.1177/009365092019004003.
[66]
Manning, W.H.; Shirkey, E.A. Fluency and the aging process. In Aging: Communication Processes and Disorders; Beasley, D.S., Davis, G.A., Eds.; Grune & Stratton: New York, NY, USA, 1981; pp. 175–190.
[67]
Ptacek, P.H.; Sander, E.K. Age recognition from voice. J. Speech Hear. Res. 1974, 9, 273–277.
[68]
Pratt, M.W.; Boyes, C.; Robins, S.; Manchester, J. Telling tales: Aging, working memory, and the narrative cohesion of story retellings. Dev. Psychol. 1989, 25, 628–635, doi:10.1037/0012-1649.25.4.628.
[69]
Shewan, C.M.; Henderson, V.L. Analysis of spontaneous language in the older normal population. J. Commun. Dis. 1988, 21, 139–154, doi:10.1016/0021-9924(88)90002-0.
[70]
Ulatowska, H.K.; Hayashi, M.M.; Cannito, M.P.; Fleming, S.G. Disruption of reference in aging. Brain Lang. 1986, 28, 24–41, doi:10.1016/0093-934X(86)90088-X.
[71]
MacKay, D.G.; MacDonald, M.C. Stuttering as a sequencing and timing disorder. Nat. Treat. Stuttering New Dir. 1984, 261–282.
[72]
Corkin, S.; Amaral, D.G.; González, R.G.; Johnson, K.A.; Hyman, B.T. H.M.’s medial temporal lobe lesion: Findings from magnetic resonance imaging. J. Neurosci. 1997, 17, 3964–3979.
Emilien, G.; Durlach, C.; Antoniadis, E.; van der Linden, M.; Maloteaux, M. Memory: Neuropsychological, Imaging, and Psychopharmacological Perspectives; Psychology Press: New York, NY, USA, 2004.
[75]
Albert, M.L.; Goodglass, H.; Helm, N.A.; Rubens, A.B.; Alexander, M.P. Clinical Aspects of Dysphasia; Springer: New York, NY, USA, 1981.
[76]
Blumstein, S. A Phonological Investigation of Aphasic Speech; Mouton: The Hague, The Netherland, 1973.
[77]
Nicolas, L.; Harryman, E.; Kreshek, J. Terminology of Speech Disorders; Williams & Wilkins: Baltimore, MD, USA, 1978.
[78]
Saffran, E.M.; Schwartz, M.F.; Marin, O.S.M. The word order problem in agrammatism: II. Production. Brain Lang. 1980, 10, 263–280, doi:10.1016/0093-934X(80)90056-5.
[79]
MacKay, D.G. The Organization of Perception and Action: A Theory for Language and Other Cognitive Skills; Springer-Verlag: New York, NY, USA, 1987.
[80]
Schacter, D.L. Adaptive constructive processes and the future of memory. Am. Psychol. 2012, 67, 603–613, doi:10.1037/a0029869.
[81]
Drachman, D.A.; Arbit, J. Memory and the hippocampal complex: II. Is memory a multiple process? Arch. Neurol. 1966, 15, 52–61, doi:10.1001/archneur.1966.00470130056005.
[82]
Burke, D.M.; MacKay, D.G.; Worthley, J.S.; Wade, E. On the tip of the tongue: What causes word finding failures in young and older adults? J. Mem. Lang. 1991, 30, 542–579, doi:10.1016/0749-596X(91)90026-G.
[83]
Cohen, G.; Burke, D.M. Memory for proper names: A review. Memory 1993, 1, 249–263, doi:10.1080/09658219308258237.
[84]
Semenza, C. The neuropsychology of proper names. Mind Lang. 2009, 24, 347–369, doi:10.1111/j.1468-0017.2009.01366.x.
[85]
Koch, C.; Tononi, G. Testing for consciousness in machines. Sci. Am. Mind 2011, 22, 16–17.
[86]
Schacter, D.L. Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind and the Past; Basic Books: New York, NY, USA, 1996.
[87]
Bach, E. On the relationship between word-grammar and phrase-grammar. Nat. Lang. Linguist. Theory 1983, 1, 65–89, doi:10.1007/BF00210376.
[88]
Jackendoff, R. Foundations of Grammar: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2003.
[89]
Hampton, R.R.; Shettleworth, S.J. Hippocampal lesions impair memory for location but not color in passerine birds. Behav. Neurosci. 1996, 110, 831–835, doi:10.1037/0735-7044.110.4.831.
[90]
Tulving, E.; Markowitsch, H.J. Episodic and declarative memory: Role of the hippocampus. Hippocampus 1998, 8, 198–204, doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-1063(1998)8:3<198::AID-HIPO2>3.0.CO;2-G.
[91]
Conway, M.A. Has a few coherence memories and they are good! In Abstracts of the Psychonomic Society, Proceedings of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Minneapolis, MN, USA, November 2012. Abstract 195; p. 41.
[92]
Medved, M.I. Remembering without a past: Individuals with anterograde memory impairment talk about their lives. Psychol. Health Med. 2007, 12, 603–616, doi:10.1080/13548500601164404.
[93]
Campbell, R.; Conway, M.A. Broken Memories: Case Studies in Memory; Blackwell: Malden, MA, USA, 1995.
