The human Klüver-Bucy syndrome

Abstract

Twelve patients with the Klüver-Bucy syndrome (KBS) are described. The syndrome occurred in head trauma, Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, and following herpes encephalitis. KBS was transient after head trauma but was a persistent feature of the postencephalitic syndrome. In all cases KBS was combined with aphasia, amnesia, or dementia. Human KBS resembles the monkey syndrome, but in humans there is a more elaborate complex of behavioral disturbances. The behavioral manifestations are produced by bilateral temporal lobe dysfunction. Partial expression of the syndrome may have localizing validity.