Disorders of Temporal Judgment Associated with Amnesic States

It is concluded that localization in time and the recall of serial order of recent events are aspects of memory particularly liable to dissolution in organic amnesic states.

Abstract

It is widely recognized that judgment of time may be grossly disturbed in amnesic states of organic origin. Korsakoff (1890), in his classic exposition of the syndrome which has come to bear his name, pointed out that memory for time is often more severely affected than memory for events, and that temporal reference may remain markedly defective, even after remission of the psychosis. Thus one of his patients was able to recall recent events with fair accuracy, but was unable to state whether a given event had occurred yesterday or three years before. After recovery, moreover, this patient presented disturbances in the temporal sphere as the most outspoken residual symptom. Korsakoff further observed that defects of temporal localization might appear as the most prominent manifestation in mild cases of the amnesic syndrome. It would seem, then, that disorders of time judgment form an integral part of this syndrome and may well reflect a disturbance of memory at its highest levels of psychological organization.