The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) was used to examine the qualitative, and quantitative aspects of memory in patients with amnesic anterior communicating artery aneurysm (ACoA) and in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The results show that both groups were impaired relative to control participants with respect to acquisition of verbal material. The participants with A CoA exhibited a profound loss of information and emitted a significantly greater number of intrusions and false positives than either control participants or participants with MS. The advantages of using both quantitative and qualitative measures of memory in differentiating various clinical populations are discussed.