Abstract
Abstract: The role of the right temporal lobe in person‐specific knowledge is not yet fully understood. We report here the case of a 66‐year old, right‐handed woman with severe right temporal lobe atrophy, who was diagnosed as having semantic dementia according to established criteria. While she had difficulty in identifying faces of famous people, family members, such as her daughter, were relatively well recognized. Brain MRI revealed asymmetrical lateral temporal lobe atrophy, involving the pole and the inferior and middle temporal gyri on the right side. We examined her knowledge of personal acquaintances and famous people using detailed autobiographical memory and famous events‐people tests. While she had lost almost all knowledge of personal acquaintances (e.g., old friends) and famous people of her past, she was able to identify personal acquaintances (e.g., grandchildren) from her recent life, not only by name, but also by face. However, famous people in recent memory could be recognized only by name, but not by face. These results suggest that knowledge regarding personal acquaintances in recent memory is supported by greater exposure, relative to that of famous persons and personal acquaintances in her past life, and the preservation of episodic memory. The right temporal lobe may play an important role in the storage of knowledge about people in past memory and accessing faces of famous people in recent memory.
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