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A Specific Role for the Human Amygdala in Olfactory Memory

Buchanan, Tony W. and Tranel, Daniel and Adolphs, Ralph (2003) A Specific Role for the Human Amygdala in Olfactory Memory. Learning and Memory, 10 (5). pp. 319-325. ISSN 1072-0502. PMCID PMC217997. doi:10.1101/lm.62303. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20200124-160323700

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Abstract

The medial temporal lobe is known to play a role in the processing of olfaction and memory. The specific contribution of the human amygdala to memory for odors has not been addressed, however. The role of this region in memory for odors was assessed in patients with unilateral amygdala damage due to temporal lobectomy (n = 20; 11 left, 9 right), one patient with selective bilateral amygdala damage, and in 20 age-matched normal controls. Fifteen odors were presented, followed 1 h later by an odor–name matching test and an odor–odor recognition test. Signal detection analyses showed that both unilateral groups were impaired in their memory for matching odors with names, these patients were not significantly impaired on odor–odor recognition. Bilateral amygdala damage resulted in severe impairment in both odor–name matching as well as in odor–odor recognition memory. Importantly, none of the patients were impaired on an auditory verbal learning task, suggesting that these findings reflect a specific impairment in olfactory memory, and not merely a more general memory deficit. Taken together, the data provide neuropsychological evidence that the human amygdala is essential for olfactory memory.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.62303DOIArticle
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC217997PubMed CentralArticle
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Adolphs, Ralph0000-0002-8053-9692
Additional Information:© 2003 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Received April 17, 2003; accepted in revised form July 29, 2003. Supported by NINDS Grant P01 NS 19632 and an NRSA to T.W.B. from the National Institute on Aging. The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
NIHP01 NS 19632
National Institute on AgingUNSPECIFIED
Issue or Number:5
PubMed Central ID:PMC217997
DOI:10.1101/lm.62303
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20200124-160323700
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20200124-160323700
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:100920
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Tony Diaz
Deposited On:27 Jan 2020 14:42
Last Modified:16 Nov 2021 17:57

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