Long-term recency effects and phonological short-term memory. A neuropsychological case study

Cortex. 1991 Jun;27(2):323-6. doi: 10.1016/s0010-9452(13)80137-2.

Abstract

Long-term recency effects were investigated in a left brain-damaged patient, PV, who had a pathologically low auditory-verbal span and a lack of the normal recency effects in immediate free recall of auditorily presented lists of words, attributed to the abnormally reduced capacity of the phonological short-term store component of memory (Vallar and Papagno, 1986). In a task requiring the delayed free recall of a list of anagram solutions the patient showed both a recall performance level and a long-term recency effect comparable to the control group. These findings dissociate long and short-term recency phenomena, which would reflect the operation of different memory components. A collateral finding was PV's difficulty in anagram solving, which may be traced back to the defective function of her phonological short-term store.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain Damage, Chronic / diagnosis
  • Brain Damage, Chronic / physiopathology
  • Brain Damage, Chronic / psychology*
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology
  • Dominance, Cerebral / physiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Memory, Short-Term* / physiology
  • Mental Recall / physiology
  • Neuropsychological Tests*
  • Phonetics*
  • Problem Solving / physiology
  • Retention, Psychology* / physiology