Abstract
We reported a case of a basal forebrain amnesia of a 44-year-old man who exhibited persistent amnesia and changes of personality following surgery on ruptured aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery. He showed disorientation, severe anterograde amnesia, confabulation and euphoria, but neither social or biographical retrograde amnesia. The case was noteworthy in that he had difficulty in recalling famous persons' names in addition to the characteristics of basal forebrain amnesia, whereas he had feeling of knowing and preserved recognition for presented photographs of the famous faces.
Damasio et al. (1996) proposed that abnormal retrieval of words for persons correlated with damage in the left temporal pole. The (left) temporal pole is combined with the medial frontal cortex including the basal forebrain area with Yakovlev circuit. This case suggests the possibility of damage in the basal forebrain area affect the ability in recalling famous persons' names.
