Patient HC with developmental amnesia can construct future scenarios
Open accessAbstract
Deficits in recalling the past and imagining fictitious and future scenarios have been documented in patients with hippocampal damage and amnesia that was acquired in adulthood. By contrast patients with very early hippocampal damage and developmental amnesia are not impaired relative to control participants when imagining fictitious/future experiences. Recently, however, a patient (HC) with developmental amnesia, resulting from bilateral hippocampal atrophy, was reported to be impaired, thus raising a question about the true nature of event construction in the context of developmental amnesia. Here, we assessed HC on a test of imagination which explored her ability to construct fictitious events or personal plausible future events. Her scenario descriptions were analysed in detail along a range of parameters, using two different scoring methods. HC's performance was comparable to matched control participants on all measures relating to the imagination of fictitious and future scenarios. We then considered why she was reported as impaired in the previous study. We conclude that various features of the previous testing methodology may have contributed to the underestimation of HC's ability in that instance. Patients like HC with developmental amnesia may be successful at future-thinking tasks because their performance is not based on true visualisation or scene construction supported by the hippocampus, but rather on preserved world knowledge and semantic representations.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Developmental amnesics with hippocampal damage demonstrate intact construction of imagined experiences despite significant deficits in autobiographical memory.
“Moreover, a series of studies on developmental amnesics with hippocampal damage reported that these patients demonstrated intact construction of imagined experiences despite experiencing significant deficits in autobiographical memory (Maguire et al., 2010b;Cooper et al., 2011;Hurley et al., 2011).”
From Considering the role of semantic memory in episodic future thinking: evidence from semantic dementia (2012) · cites this paper as Hurley et al., 2011
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Addis, D. R., Wong, A. T., & Schacter, D. L. (2007) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.10.016 · Cited by 1,949 · see citing works
The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory: remembering the past and imagining the future
Schacter, D. L., & Addis, D. R. (2007) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2087 · Cited by 1,836 · see citing works
Differential Effects of Early Hippocampal Pathology on Episodic and Semantic Memory
Vargha-Khadem, F., Gadian, D. G., Watkins, K. E., Connelly, A., Van Paesschen, W., & Mishkin, M. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.277.5324.376 · Cited by 1,746 · see citing works
Self-citationAging and autobiographical memory: dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval
Levine, B., Svoboda, E., Hay, J. F., Winocur, G., & Moscovitch, M. (2002) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.17.4.677 · Cited by 1,521 · see citing works
Patients with hippocampal amnesia cannot imagine new experiences
Hassabis, D., Kumaran, D., Vann, S. D., & Maguire, E. A. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0610561104 · Cited by 1,414 · see citing works
Self-citationComparing an Individual's Test Score Against Norms Derived from Small Samples
Crawford, J. R., & Howell, D. C. (1998) · The Clinical Neuropsychologist · doi:10.1076/clin.12.4.482.7241 · Cited by 1,264 · see citing works
Deconstructing episodic memory with construction
Hassabis, D., & Maguire, E. A. (2007) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.05.001 · Cited by 1,229 · see citing works
Self-citationCrawford, J., & Garthwaite, P. H. (2002) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(01)00224-x · Cited by 974 · see citing works
Neural substrates of envisioning the future
Szpunar, K. K., Watson, J. M., & McDermott, K. B. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0610082104 · Cited by 784 · see citing works
Using Imagination to Understand the Neural Basis of Episodic Memory
Hassabis, D., Kumaran, D., & Maguire, E. A. (2007) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4549-07.2007 · Cited by 744 · see citing works
Self-citationAddis, D. R., Pan, L., Vu, M.-A. T., Laiser, N., & Schacter, D. L. (2008) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.10.026 · Cited by 600 · see citing works
Klein, S. B., Loftus, J., & Kihlstrom, J. F. (2002) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.20.5.353.21125 · Cited by 553 · see citing works
The construction system of the brain
Hassabis, D., & Maguire, E. A. (2009) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0296 · Cited by 483 · see citing works
Self-citationRace, E., Keane, M. M., & Verfaellie, M. (2011) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1145-11.2011 · Cited by 328 · see citing works
Botzung, A., Denkova, E., & Manning, L. (2007) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2007.07.011 · Cited by 327 · see citing works
The Society for Neuroscience 1995 annual meeting.
Hu, R. J. (1996) · PubMed · Cited by 313 · see citing works
Cortical midline involvement in autobiographical memory
Summerfield, J., Hassabis, D., & Maguire, E. (2009) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.09.033 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Self-citationRole of the hippocampus in remembering the past and imagining the future
Squire, L. R., van der Horst, A. S., McDuff, S. G. R., Frascino, J. C., Hopkins, R. O., & Mauldin, K. N. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1014391107 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Conway, M., Pleydell-Pearce, C., & Whitecross, S. E. (2001) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1006/jmla.2001.2781 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Rosenbaum, R. S., Gilboa, A., Levine, B., Winocur, G., & Moscovitch, M. (2008) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.11.028 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Neurophysiological correlates of memory for experienced and imagined events
Conway, M. A., Pleydell-Pearce, C. W., Whitecross, S. E., & Sharpe, H. (2003) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00165-3 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
Deficits in past remembering extend to future imagining in a case of developmental amnesia
Kwan, D. T., Carson, N., Addis, D. R., & Rosenbaum, R. S. (2010) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.06.011 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Differential engagement of brain regions within a ‘core’ network during scene construction
Summerfield, J. J., Hassabis, D., & Maguire, E. A. (2010) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.01.022 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Self-citationDevelopmental amnesia: Effect of age at injury
Vargha‐Khadem, F., Salmond, C. H., Watkins, K. E., Friston, K. J., Gadian, D. G., & Mishkin, M. (2003) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1233756100 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Self-citationBilateral hippocampal lesion and a selective impairment of the ability for mental time travel
Andelman, F., Hoofien, D., Goldberg, I., Aizenstein, O., & Neufeld, M. Y. (2010) · Neurocase · doi:10.1080/13554791003623318 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
The effect of hippocampal damage in children on recalling the past and imagining new experiences
Cooper, J. M., Vargha-Khadem, F., Gadian, D. G., & Maguire, E. A. (2011) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.03.008 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Self-citationImagining fictitious and future experiences: Evidence from developmental amnesia
Maguire, E. A., Vargha‐Khadem, F., & Hassabis, D. (2010) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.06.037 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Self-citationRole of the hippocampus in imagination and future thinking
Maguire, E. A., & Hassabis, D. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1018876108 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Self-citationDeferred Imitation of Action Sequences in Developmental Amnesia
Adlam, A., Vargha‐Khadem, F., Mishkin, M., & de Haan, M. D. H. (2005) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/0898929053124901 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Self-citationDissociation between recognition and recall in developmental amnesia
Adlam, A., Malloy, M., Mishkin, M., & Vargha‐Khadem, F. (2009) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.01.038 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Self-citationImpaired event memory and recollection in a case of developmental amnesia
Rosenbaum, R. S., Carson, N., Abraham, N., Bowles, B., Kwan, D. T., Köhler, S., Svoboda, E., Levine, B., & Richards, B. (2011) · Neurocase · doi:10.1080/13554794.2010.532138 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Hippocampal amnesia impairs the generation of mental representations across all time periods
Kurczek, J., Duff, M., Jensen, U., et al. (2016) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.3482909 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The future of memory: remembering, imagining, and the brain
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., Hassabis, D., Martin, V. C., Spreng, R. N., & Szpunar, K. K. (2012) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2012.11.001 · Cited by 1,398 · see citing works
Considering the role of semantic memory in episodic future thinking: evidence from semantic dementia
Irish, M., Addis, D. R., Hodges, J. R., & Piguet, O. (2012) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/aws119 · Cited by 405 · see citing works
The Pivotal Role of Semantic Memory in Remembering the Past and Imagining the Future
Irish, M., & Piguet, O. (2013) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00027 · Cited by 345 · see citing works
The Hippocampus and Imagining the Future: Where Do We Stand?
Addis, D. R., & Schacter, D. L. (2012) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2011.00173 · Cited by 285 · see citing works
Self-projection and the default network in frontotemporal dementia
Irish, M., Piguet, O., & Hodges, J. R. (2012) · Nature Reviews Neurology · doi:10.1038/nrneurol.2012.11 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Episodic and semantic content of memory and imagination: a multilevel analysis
Devitt, A. L., Addis, D. R., & Schacter, D. L. (2017) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-017-0716-1 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Klein, S. B. (2016) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2015.1007150 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Abram, M., Picard, L., Navarro, B., & Piolino, P. (2014) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2014.07.011 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Gaesser, B., Spreng, R. N., McLelland, V. C., Addis, D. R., & Schacter, D. L. (2013) · Hippocampus · doi:10.1002/hipo.22152 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Bertossi, E., Aleo, F., Braghittoni, D., & Ciaramelli, E. (2016) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.12.015 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Escaping the Past: Contributions of the Hippocampus to Future Thinking and Imagination
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., & Szpunar, K. K. (2017) · The Hippocampus from Cells to Systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-50406-3_14 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Patterns of preserved and impaired spatial memory in a case of developmental amnesia
Rosenbaum, R. S., Cassidy, B. N., & Herdman, K. A. (2015) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00196 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
- Authors
- Hurley, N. C., Maguire, E. A., & Vargha-Khadem, F.
- Affiliations
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Maguire, Eleanor A.
- ORCID
- Maguire, Eleanor A.
- Venue
- Neuropsychologia
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-11
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 3620-3628
- ISSN
- 0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3214694
- OpenAlex
- W1977931849
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 6.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (Eleanor A. Maguire)
- MRC programme (G0300117–ID 65439)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- developmental amnesia, hippocampal atrophy, future scenarios, scenario development, imagination, future thinking, event construction, semantic memory, world knowledge, hippocampal lesions
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Amnesia, Female, Humans, Imagination, Judgment, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neuropsychological Tests, Mental Recall, Reference Values, Self-Assessment, Semantics, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
