A "hippocampal amnesiac" (H.M.) and memory-normal controls of similar age, background, intelligence, and education read novel sentences aloud in tasks where fast and accurate reading was or was not the primary goal. H.M produced more misreadings than normal and cerebellar controls, usually without self-correction. Results support a theoretical syndrome approach under which all of H.M.'s deficits form part of a general, theoretically coherent syndrome that generalizes to other patients. (Author/VWL)