The evolution of the progressive loss of semantic knowledge of a patient, VZ, with lesions mainly affecting the infero-medial temporal lobes, was followed for two years. At the beginning of the study VZ's performance was mainly characterized by a category-specific deficit for living things and a modality-specific deficit for perceptual attribute knowledge. As time went on, VZ's disorder affected all categories by changing the relationship between category and attribute knowledge. Data show that dissociations may change in the course of progressive cognitive breakdown, depending on both degeneration stage and task demands. VZ's performance is discussed in the light of the most influential theoretical accounts. Methodological suggestions regarding longitudinal studies of degenerative patients are also put forward. (JINS, 2006, 12, 275–284.)

While there has been much concern over television’s influence on children, few studies have investigated the way young children and adults differ in their ability to distinguish the behaviour of “good” and “bad” television characters. The present study investigated the extent to which preschool children, primary school students, and adults differed in their interpretations of the actions of a stereotypically good and a stereotypically bad character. An edited television drama programme was examined for comprehension and for the extent to which children and adults differed in their belief that the characters in the programme were real. Preschool children were found to evaluate characters similarly to adults, although significant differences were evident in their comprehension of the programme and their judgement of the reality of the television content.