Neuropsychologia 45 (2007) 704–715 Acquired amnesia in childhood: A single case study Stefano Vicari a,b,∗ , Deny Menghini a,c , Margherita Di Paola c , Laura Serra c , Alberto Donfrancesco d , Paola Fidani d , Giuseppe Maria Milano d , Giovanni Augusto Carlesimo c,e a I.R.C.C.S., Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Ges` u, S. Marinella, Roma, Italy b LUMSA University, Roma, Italy c I.R.C.C.S. Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy d I.R.C.C.S., Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Ges` u, U.O. Oncologia Pediatrica, Roma, Italy e Clinica Neurologica, Universit` a Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy Received 1 February 2006; received in revised form 26 July 2006; accepted 4 August 2006 Available online 20 September 2006 Abstract We report the case of C.L., an 8-year-old child who, following the surgical removal of an ependymoma from the left cerebral ventricle at the age of 4 years, developed significant difficulties in retaining day-to-day events and information. A thorough neuropsychological analysis documented in C.L. a severe anterograde amnesic syndrome, characterised by normal short-term memory, but poor performance on episodic long-term memory tests. In particular, C.L. demonstrated virtually no ability to recollect new verbal information several minutes after the presentation. As for semantic memory, C.L. demonstrated general semantic competencies, which, depending on the test, ranged from the level of a 6-year-old girl to a level corresponding to her actual chronological age. Finding a patient who, despite being severely impaired in the ability to recollect new episodic memories, still demonstrates at least partially preserved abilities to acquire new semantic knowledge suggests that neural circuits implicated in the memorisation of autobiographical events and factual information do not overlap completely. This case is examined in the light of growing literature concerned with the dissociation between episodic and semantic memory in childhood amnesia. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Anterograde amnesic syndrome; Semantic long-term memory; Episodic long-term memory; Short-term memory; Hippocampus; Fornix 1. Introduction Human memory, which is generally defined as the capacity to acquire, retain and recall experiences and/or information, is no longer considered as a unitary cognitive function. Functional dissociations in healthy subjects and neuropsychological dissociations in brain-damaged patients suggest that memory is fragmented into a series of functionally independent, but clearly interacting, systems and subsystems. Squire (1987) presented a cognitive model of the amnesic function that has proved to be theoretically and practically useful. In agreement with Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971), the author’s first distinction is between ∗ Corresponding author at: U.O. Neurologia e Riabilitazione, Ospedale Pedi- atrico Bambino Ges` u, I.R.C.C.S., Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi 36, 00058 Santa Marinella, Roma, Italy. Tel.: +39 0766 5244258; fax: +39 0766 5244244. E-mail address: vicari@opbg.net (S. Vicari). short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). The functional independence of the two memory systems was confirmed by the description of a neuropsychological double dissociation. There are reports of patients with severe impair- ment of episodic LTM, but essentially normal STM performance (e.g., Baddeley & Warrington, 1970) and, on the other hand, of patients with severe reduction of verbal span (a measure of STM capacity) and nearly normal performance on episodic LTM tests (e.g., Basso, Spinnler, Vallar, & Zanobio, 1982). In LTM, the model distinguishes between explicit or declarative memory, and implicit or procedural memory. Explicit memory is involved in intentional and/or conscious recall and recognition of experiences and information. Implicit memory is manifested as a facilitation (i.e., performance improvement) in perceptual, cognitive and motor tasks, without any conscious reference to previous experiences. The amnesic impairment profile observed in patients with pure amnesia is the strongest evidence sup- porting the dichotomy between implicit and explicit memory 0028-3932/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.08.004