Memory of Mind: The Relationship Between Destination Memory and Cognitive Theory of Mind in Korsakoff Syndrome

Korsakoff syndrome (KS) is characterized by a decline in both destination memory (i.e., the ability to remember to whom a message was previously transmitted) and theory of mind (i.e., the ability to infer cognitive and affective states). In the current study, we, for the first time, have evaluated the relationship between destination memory decline and theory of mind in KS as both abilities are intimately associated with social cognition. We invited patients with KS and healthy controls, to perform a destination memory task. In this task, participants tell proverbs to pictures of celebrities, in order to decide to which celebrity they had previously told the proverbs. We also invited all participants to perform a cognitive (i.e., the false belief task) and affective (i.e., reading the mind in the eyes) tests of theory of mind. Analysis revealed an impaired destination memory, cognitive, and affective theory of mind in patients with KS than in control participants. Significant positive correlations were observed between destination memory and first and second order cognitive order theory of mind in patients with KS, but no significant correlations were observed between destination memory and affective theory of mind in these patients. These findings demonstrate that patients with KS experience difficulties to infer and predict cognitive states of interlocutors, experience difficulties to remember to which interlocutor information has been told, as well as show a relationship between destination memory and cognitive theory of mind. These findings are important as they demonstrate how memory decline can be associated with social cognition difficulties in patients with KS.