Memory as Social Glue: Close Interpersonal Relationships in Amnesic Patients

R. Shayna Rosenbaum,Morris Moscovitch,Patrick S. R. Davidson,Héloïse Drouin,Donna Kwan

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00531

Abstract

Memory may be crucial for establishing and/or maintaining social bonds. Using the National Social life, Health, and Aging Project questionnaire, we examined close interpersonal relationships in three amnesic people: K.C. and D.A. (who are adult-onset cases) and H.C. (who has developmental amnesia). All three patients were less involved than demographically matched controls with neighbors and religious and community groups. A higher-than-normal percentage of the adult-onset (K.C. and D.A.) cases’ close relationships were with family members, and they had made few new close friends in the decades since the onset of their amnesia. On the other hand, the patient with developmental amnesia (H.C.) had forged a couple of close relationships, including one with her fiancé. Social networks appear to be winnowed, but not obliterated, by amnesia. The obvious explanation for the patients’ reduced social functioning stems from their memory impairment, but we discuss other potentially important factors for future study.

Highlights

What is memory for? Episodic memory enables one to capture the precise details of an experience, and to recollect this information rapidly whenever and wherever needed
We examined the potential significance of memory to close interpersonal relationships
The picture presented by our three amnesic patients is of social networks being winnowed, not necessarily obliterated, by amnesia

Summary

Introduction

What is memory for? Episodic memory enables one to capture the precise details of an experience, and to recollect this information rapidly whenever and wherever needed. We examined social relationships in three amnesic patients In such patients, damage to medial temporal, diencephalic, and/or basal forebrain structures yields a profound and relatively specific impairment in episodic memory, with other faculties (i.e., sensory-perceptual, cognitive, and motor) remaining essentially intact (for recent reviews, see Squire and Wixted, 2011; Rosenbaum et al, 2012). Amnesic patients usually are able to hold a simple conversation, as long as they are not distracted Their semantic knowledge about the basic rules of social interaction and friendship is intact; many retain exemplary social graces (Corkin, 1984; Rosenbaum et al, 2005). Their ability to infer other people’s thoughts, feelings, and intentions is normal, at least under many circumstances (Rabin et al, in press; Rosenbaum et al, 2007)

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Conclusion