Outline of the study

• March 1985 – CW developed an influenza illness (headache and fever). He was admitted to hospital where he was diagnosed with herpes simplex viral encephalitis (HSVE). He was given medication but this virus had already destroyed large parts of his brain.
• Neuropsychological assessment: CW referred to Wilson in October 1985. Found to have severe episodic memory deficits (autobiographical memory), some semantic memory impairments but his immediate memory span was normal. He couldn’t recall many details about his life before the illness and unable to create new memories. His memory for facts and knowledge had some damage but his ability to remember a small amount of information over a short amount of time was normal (few seconds).
• His verbal and performance IQ tests were found to be within average. He was a gifted man before his illness so this score is likely to be poorer than he would have scored before his illness. His STM was normal but LTM severely impaired. He also still showed impaired semantic memory.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning: in 1991 CW had his first MRI scan rated by three independent experts who agreed there were significant abnormalities in hippocampal formations, amygdala, mammillary bodies, temporal poles and substantia innominate. A second scan in 2006 – very little change, but extensive damage to his temporal cortices, damage was greater on the left than the right.
• CW has always scored 0 on tests of recall: if he was given new things to learn, he was completely unable to recall them after a delay, showing that he could not form new semantic memories (evidence of anterograde amnesia). He could talk, read, write, sight read music and conduct an orchestra.
• Retrograde amnesia seen by his inability to recall facts and autobiographical information from before the accident (e.g. though Prince Phillip was a member of his choir).  He recalled who he was, where he went to school, and that he married his wife.
• CW memory remained largely unchanged over the 21 years of study.
• CW’s Auditory Hallucinations: 1990 – CW developed auditory hallucinations, he thought he could hear familiar music playing (persisted, several times a week). This suggests that left over memory traces play a part in the creation of hallucinations