ABSTRACT
Various neurological pathologies affect the ability to remember where things are. M. L. Smith and Milner (1981, 1984, 1989) were among the first to describe impaired spatial memory after focal lesions to the right hippocampal formation. The last decade has shown that functional impairments can also arise after more widespread neurological damage. Impairments in remembering spatial information, in particular object-to-location associations, appear to be at the core of Korsakoff’s disease (Kessels, Postma, Wester, & De Haan, 2000; Mayes, Meudell, & Pickering, 1991; Shoqeirat & Mayes, 1991). Moreover, deficits in object-location memory have been reported in patients with Parkinson’s disease (Pillon et al., 1996, 1997, 1998). Similarly, others have found a decline in spatial memory performance in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (Adelstein, Kesner, & Strassberg, 1992; Bucks & Willison, 1997; Sahakian et al., 1988). In fact, forgetting where things are-most likely “mobile” objects such as keys or glasses-is one of the first clinical symptoms of dementia, illustrating the ecological significance of object-location memory research (Bucks & Willison, 1997).
