Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 2003, 3 (3), 168-185 Evaluating the neuropsychological dissociation evidence for multiple memory systems JENNIFER D. RYAN Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and NEAL J. COHEN University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois This article presents a critical evaluation of the logic and nature of the neuropsychological dissociation evidence that has provided one of the essentiallines of support for claims of multiple memory systems— specifically, suggesting that amnesia selectivelycompromises, and an intact hippocampal system selec- tively supports, a particular form of memory. An analysis of the existing neuropsychological dissocia- tion evidence is offered in which different classes of evidence—different dissociation approaches—are identified and characterized. The logic of these neuropsychological dissociation approaches is evalu- ated critically in terms of their ability to distinguish among alternativetheoretical views. We conclude that although they support a multiple memory systems account, the findings from these types of neuro- psychological dissociation, taken individually and without support from other converging lines of cog- nitive neuroscience evidence, cannot definitively rule out alternative formulations. A more powerful neuropsychologicaldissociationapproach is then outlined, involving dissociationwithin condition, that, by more effectively limiting the critical domains of difference between the dissociated performances, can successfullyrule out alternativeaccounts. Its application in Ryan, Althoff, Whitlow, and Cohen (2000) is described, providing strong support for the power of the dissociation within condition approach. One of the major developmentsin memory research in However, not all researchers have interpreted the neuro- the last several decades has been the advancement of the psychological dissociation evidence as requiring a claim claim that there are multiple memory systems in the of multiple memory systems. Accordingly,rather than re- brain and the research it has engendered whose aim has lying exclusively on the neuropsychological dissociation been to identify and characterize (some of) these systems evidence, we and others have derived critical support for (e.g., Cohen, 1984; Cohen & Eichenbaum,1993; Cohen, the claim of multiple memory systems from several con- Poldrack, & Eichenbaum, 1997; Cohen & Squire, 1980; verging lines of evidence (e.g., Cohen & Eichenbaum, Eichenbaum & Cohen, 2001; Graf & Schacter, 1985; 1993; Eichenbaum& Cohen, 2001; Gabrieli, 1999; Squire, Nadel, 1994; Schacter & Tulving, 1982, 1994; Squire, 1987, 1992; Tulving, 1999). These converging lines in- 1987, 1992; Tulving, 1972, 1985; Weiskrantz, 1987). clude performance dissociations in animal models of am- Historically, the key data in arguing for and testing ideas nesia, findings of hippocampal system activation during about multiple memory systems has come in the form of the performance of some, but not other, memory tasks in neuropsychologicaldissociationevidence—the abilityof functional neuroimaging studies of normal control sub- patients with amnesia to reliably exhibitinstancesof fully jects, and recordings of activity of single cells in the hip- preserved learning and memory in the face of otherwise pocampus in freely behaving animals for some, but not profound and pervasive memory deficits. This dissocia- other, memory challenges. Here, as in other areas of cog- tion between classes of impaired and classes of spared nitive neuroscience,each of the different lines permits the memory abilities in patients with hippocampal system addressing of somewhat different questions about the na- damage has been central in suggesting that amnesia se- ture of memory and its organizationin the brain; taken al- lectively compromises, and an intact hippocampal sys- together, they permit the investigationof memory in both tem selectively supports, a particular aspect or form of humans and animals, using methods that have very differ- memory. ent assumptions. They provide multiple sources of data and multiple sources of constraint on theories about the organizationof memory. Tothe extentthatthe answers forth- coming from these different lines all converge on a partic- Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to J. D. Ryan, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, ular view of memory organization—that is, to the extent 3560 Bathurst St., Toronto, ON, M6A 2E1 Canada (e-mail: jryan@ that a single view can encompass the data across different rotman-baycrest.on.ca). measures, methods, species, and assumptions—that view Copyright 2003 Psychonomic Society, Inc. 168 NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL DISSOCIATION EVIDENCE 169 can be endorsed with more confidence. It is the conver- their ability to support a multiple memory systems ac- gence of these many lines of evidence that has been most count exclusively. persuasive that there are multiple memory systems in the brain. Dissociation Across Tasks Despite the power of the approach involvingconverging The first of the two classes of neuropsychological dis- methods, the fact that much of the debate about the mul- sociation evidence used extensively in the literature to tiple memory systems claim has centered on neuro- support the multiple memory systems claim involves psychological dissociation evidence leads us, in this arti- dissociation across tasks. Here, various classes of mem- cle, to considerthat evidencein isolation,withoutsupport ory tasks are identified on which amnesic patients are from the other converging lines. The question that is cen- impaired, as contrasted with other classes of memory tral to this article is why the neuropsychologicaldissocia- tasks on which amnesic patients are spared. The logic tion evidence alone has been less than fully persuasive. here is as follows: (1) There are multiple memory sys- We do not attempt to summarize here the full range of data tems; (2) one of the memory systems depends critically from neuropsychological studies of amnesia; such a re- on the hippocampalsystem (and/or other) structures that view is beyond the scope of this article and can be found are damaged in amnesia, and this memory system is selec- elsewhere (Cohen & Eichenbaum, 1993; Eichenbaum & tively compromised in amnesia; (3) the different memory Cohen,2001).Rather,in this article, we considerthe logic systems support different classes of performance; and of work using neuropsychologicaldissociation evidence, (4) all those—and only those—task performances de- raising some critical questions about why such evidence pendent on the hippocampal-mediated memory system may be unable to unambiguouslysupport multiple mem- should be impaired in amnesia. ory systems theories. We point out weaknesses that make This approach conforms with the long tradition of it difficult for most existing dissociation findings in the work in neuropsychology, in which different tasks are literature, taken in isolation, to definitively rule out alter- used to tap into and illuminate the functioning of differ- native formulations of the organization of memory. We ent cognitive systems. Clinically, performance deficits then describe a more powerful approach to obtaining on one or another neuropsychological test, when occur- neuropsychological dissociation evidence that avoids ring selectively—that is, in the absence of deficit on these pitfalls, and we go on to illustrate its application. other neuropsychological tests—is interpreted as re- flecting an isolated, specific impairment to language,at- CLASSES OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL tention, executive, or memory systems. Thus, amnesic DISSOCIATION EVIDENCE patients are identified clinically by exhibiting impaired performance on various standardized tests of long-term Considerationof the various neuropsychological find- memory (e.g., on the [30-min] delayed recall tests of word ings of dissociationin the literature shows important dif- pairs, paragraphs, and line drawings on the Wechsler ferences among them with regard to the logic or nature Memory Scale) in the absence of, or disproportionate to, of the dissociation—that is, what exactly is being disso- any impairment on IQ tests and tests of perceptual, at- ciated. These differences are consequential, we will tentional, and linguistic performance. Such a pattern of show, with regard to the power of the dissociation to dis- performance of impairment and sparing across tasks iso- tinguish multiple memory systems accounts from uni- lates the deficit to the domain of memory. That the def- tary system accounts and to distinguish among different icit can be further specified to the domain of long-term multiple memory systems accounts. On our analysis, we memory is illustrated by the many findings of dissociation can identify two different classes of neuropsychological in amnesic patients between their performance on tasks dissociationevidence—two neuropsychological dissoci- tapping long-term memory versus tasks tapping working ation approaches—represented in the existing literature. memory; amnesia is accompanied by an impairment on We will call these dissociation across tasks and dissoci- the former in the face of sparing on the latter. ation across instruction conditions. In the sections that Much evidence from this approach has been offered follow, we will characterize the two classes in turn, lay- in support of the multiple memory systems claim, in ing out their underlying logic and illustrating the logic which the