Self-awareness in Transient Global Amnesia: distinguishing the effects of transient memory disorder vs. pre-existing vulnerability factors

ABSTRACT

Numerous evidences suggest the existence of relationships between the impairment of episodic memory, acute stress exposure and variations in self-awareness (SA). Here, we examined 27 patients presenting transient global amnesia (TGA), a clinical condition which combines episodic amnesia and high anxiety, thanks to state and trait questionnaires of SA. We observed variation of SA depending on the stage of TGA (acute, recovery and follow-up). We also found preexisting differences in patient’s awareness of their own image when the precipitating event was physical, encouraging us to give more consideration to the social determinants of stress in physiological cascade of TGA.

KEYWORDS:

• Transient global amnesia
• objective self-awareness
• self-focused attention
• episodic memory
• anxiety
• hippocampus

Acknowledgments

We thank Esther Ivanusa, Antoine Dumas, and Cécile Saget for collecting data from the healthy controls, and Julien Cogez, Alice Pélerin and Aurelija Juskenaite for their assistance in recruiting patients.