Success and Failure in Memory Training Following a Cerebral Vascular Accident

Only slight improvement was found in a 51 year old man suffering from a severe memory deficit which followed a bilateral stroke, although on a motor memory task he improved steadily throughout, and the effectiveness of treatment was discussed.

Abstract

This paper describes the treatment offered to a 51 year old man suffering from a severe memory deficit which followed a bilateral stroke. The aims of treatment were: (a) to improve memory generally and (b) to find ways to help him retain new information in 4 specific problem areas namely remembering: (i) his daily timetable, (ii) people's names, (iii) a shopping list, and (iv) short routes. A multiple baseline procedure was used to investigate this. At the end of the treatment period only slight improvement was found in his memory generally, although on a motor memory task he improved steadily throughout. Strategies were found to help him with 3 of the 4 specific problems. The fourth--remembering short routes--was resistant to all the strategies tried. The paper discusses the effectiveness of treatment, the nature of the lesion and how this case contributes towards our understanding of human memory and forgetting.