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Catherine Haslam

Publications and source records attributed to Catherine Haslam.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Biographical knowledge: modality-specific or modality-neutral?

A number of patients have been reported who produce more semantic information in response to faces than to names, and vice versa (e.g., Eslinger et al., 1996). It has sometimes been claimed that these patterns are consistent with the hypothesis that faces and names gain access to separate, modality-specific, biographic knowledge systems. Resolving this debate has proved somewhat difficult, however, given limitations of existing data. Not only are there relatively few patients showing these particular patterns of differentiation, but also testing has often not been sufficiently thorough to rule out alternative accounts. In this paper, we present results of two studies investigating biographical knowledge differences in neurological patients and healthy adult controls. The first study focused on two patients who appeared to access more information about famous people in response to their names than to their faces. On superficial analysis, this pattern could be seen to support the notion of modality-specific biographical knowledge systems. However, closer examination revealed that, for both cases, the findings could be explained by a difficulty in face recognition, rather than by assuming separate semantic representations for faces and names. The second study investigated the role of face and name cues in accessing biographical information in younger and older healthy adults. We found that accuracy in retrieval of biographical information was significantly better with name cues for both groups. Results from these studies not only highlight the processes that must be examined in order to demonstrate modality-specific differences conclusively, but also reveal a fundamental bias in retrieval of biographical knowledge that has not been addressed in research of this nature.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

An investigation of errorless learning in memory-impaired patients: improving the technique and clarifying theory.

In rehabilitating individuals who demonstrate severe memory impairment, errorless learning techniques have proven particularly effective. Prevention of errors during acquisition of information leads to better memory than does learning under errorful conditions. This paper presents results of a study investigating errorless learning in three patient groups: those demonstrating mild, moderate, and severe memory impairments. The first goal of the study was to trial a new version of errorless learning, one encouraging more active participation in learning by patients via the use of elaboration and self-generation. This technique led to significantly better memory performance than seen under standard errorless conditions. This finding highlights the value of encouraging active and meaningful involvement by patients in errorless learning, to build upon the benefits flowing from error prevention. A second goal of the study was to clarify the mechanisms underlying errorless learning. Memory performance under errorless and errorful conditions was compared within and across each group of patients, to facilitate theoretical insight into the memory processes underlying performance. The pattern of results observed was equivocal. The data most strongly supported the hypothesis that the benefits seen under errorless learning reflect the operation of residual explicit memory processes, however a concurrent role for implicit memory processes was not ruled out.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Striking a chord with amnesic patients: evidence that song facilitates memory.

There have been several reports in the literature, mainly anecdotal, of amnesic patients demonstrating an ability to learn and remember song. Yet there has been little systematic investigation of this phenomenon. In this paper we report findings from three experiments investigating memory for song in two amnesic patients, Joan and Nellie. In the first study we explored recognition memory for various elements of song (i.e. lyrics, melody, lyrics and melody combined) and found that amnesic patients were better than chance at distinguishing studied from novel materials when given explicit instructions. In experiment 2, the ability to generate lyrics and melody was explored in one patient. Although this patient could only generate melodies, her performance in this modality was equivalent to that of matched controls. Memory for the semantic content of song was investigated in a final study using explicit testing conditions. The results showed that both patients were significantly better than chance at identifying correct responses, indicating that they acquired and retained knowledge of the general content of studied songs. These findings not only highlight the special nature of song in facilitating memory in amnesic patients, but given the level of accuracy in memory performance observed, suggest an alternative direction in rehabilitation.

Adult↗