Memory impairment exhibited by veterans with Gulf War Illness

Abstract

Roughly 26–32% of US veterans, who served in the first Gulf War, report suffering from chronic health problems (Golomb, 2008, Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, 105, 4295). The present study investigated the memory deficits reported by these ill Gulf War veterans (GWV) using a face–name associative memory paradigm administered during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The fMRI data confirmed memory performance on the memory task to be related to the amount of activation in the left hippocampus observed during the study. In addition, ill-GWV demonstrated decreased memory performance relative to unaffected GWV on this memory test, providing evidence of memory deficits using an objective measure of memory.

Keywords:

• Gulf War Illness
• Associative memory
• Feelings of knowing
• Covert recall
• Memory
• Hippocampus

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command grants DAMD17-97-2-0725 and DAMD17-01-1-0741 and contract VA549-P-0027 (Robert W. Haley, PI) administered by the US Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dallas, TX., USA. The content does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Federal government or the sponsoring agencies, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

Notes