Tulving described an effect of retrograde amnesia in a free-recall task of word lists, produced by inserting items having priority in recall. Other authors confirmed the amnesic effect without giving instructions for priority both in recall and in recognition tasks. The effect was explained by Tulving as a premature termination of encoding processes. The similarity between these experiments and the researches aimed at reproducing amnesia by emotional trauma led us to hypothesize that the two phenomena might be due to the same functional mechanisms. We have organized a free-recall task of word lists into which emotional items were inserted. Our aim was to verify whether with these experimental conditions Tulving's results would be reproduced. The obtained data show amnesic effects in free recall; nevertheless, they do not seem to confirm closely the experimental hypothesis. Lastly, changes in primacy and recency effects produced by emotional items are analyzed.

A 1-year old male (with no significant past medical history) presented to the Department of Plastic Surgery for evaluation and eventual resection of a subcutaneous frontal mass. Imaging of the head revealed a second intracranial mass and he was referred to the Department of Neurosurgery. Subsequently, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) detected two T-1-hyperintense masses. One was the extra-cranial frontal mass noted clinically and the other was an intra-axial, interhemispheric frontal mass. Additionally, partial agenesis of posterior corpus callosum was found. (Figure 1) At that time, only the subcutaneous mass was resected and physical examination was normal. Four years later a follow-up MRI revealed that the intracranial lesion had doubled in size ( Figure 2). It was hyperintense on both T1 and T2 (Figures 2 and 3). Craniotomy was performed and a soft yellow mass was partially resected. Focal attachment to the cingulate gyri was appreciated.