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Difficulty Recalling People's Names

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

C.M. Fisher
C.M. Fisher*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
*
Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 02114
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Abstract:

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Background:

Difficulty recalling people's names is common in the adult population, especially in the elderly. The subject is scarcely mentioned in the literature. An 82-year-old patient gave the history that for 33 years he had made prospective observations on his own difficulty with people's names.

Methods:

Documentation and analysis of the patient's personal observations in which his ability to recall the names of friends, acquaintances, colleagues, public figures, movie stars and athletes is compared with that of his spouse. A suitable test-battery for the names of famous North American persons was not available.

Results:

The patient's capability in recalling people's names was clearly inferior to that of his spouse. The patient's intellect was otherwise intact and the impairment seemed to be isolated to the category of proper-naming. Doubts were raised about the patient's own conclusion that the deficit was progressive.

Conclusions:

A parallel may be drawn between benign difficulty recalling people's names and the acquired categorical deficit for proper naming reported in the literature in recent years. Based on Damasio's concept of anatomically compartmentalized sensory subsystems, it is hypothesized that our patient's symptom represents an innate limited capacity for proper naming.

Résumé:

RÉSUMÉ:Introduction

La difficulté à se souvenir des noms de personnes est fréquente dans la population adulte, surtout chez les gens âgés. Ce sujet est à peine mentionné dans la littérature. Un patient âgé de 82 ans a rapporté que, pendant 38 ans il a noté des observations prospectives sur sa propre difficulté à se rappeler des noms de personnes.

Méthodes:

Nous avons comparé et analysé les observations personnelles du patient sur sa capacité à se rappeler des noms de ses amis, de ses connaissances, de ses collègues, de personnalités publiques, de vedettes de cinéma et d'athlètes, à celles de son épouse. Aucune épreuve standardisée portant sur les noms de personnages nord-américains n'était disponible.

Résultats:

La capacité du patient à se rappeler des noms de personnes était nettement inférieure à celle de son épouse. Le facultés intellectuelles du patient étaient intactes par ailleurs et le déficit semblait limité aux noms propres. Nous avons émis des doutes quant à la conclusion du patient que la déficit était progressif.

Conclusions:

On peut faire un parallélle entre une difficulté anodine à se rappeler les noms de personnes et la déficit acquis portant sur une catégorie, soit les noms propres, tel que rapporté dans la littérature des dernières années. En se basant sur le concept des sous-systémes sensoriels à compartimentation anatomique de Damasio, nous émettons l'hypothèse que les symptômes de notre patient représentent une capacité limitée innée à se rappeler des noms propres.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 1997 , pp. 58 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1997

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