Biomedical subjects
E Tulving
Publications and source records attributed to E Tulving.
Long-lasting perceptual priming and semantic learning in amnesia: a case experiment.
An investigation of perceptual priming and semantic learning in the severely amnesic subject K.C. is reported. He was taught 64 three-word sentences and tested for his ability to produce the final word of each sentence. Despite a total lack of episodic memory, he exhibited (a) strong perceptual priming effects in word-fragment completion, which were retained essentially in full strength for 12 months, and (b) independent of perceptual priming, learning of new semantic facts, many of which were also retained for 12 months. K.C.'s semantic learning may be at least partly attributable to repeated study trials and minimal interference during learning. The findings suggest that perceptual priming and semantic learning are subserved by two memory systems different from episodic memory and that both systems (perceptual representation and semantic memory) are at least partially preserved in some amnesic subjects.
Priming and human memory systems.
Priming is a nonconscious form of human memory, which is concerned with perceptual identification of words and objects and which has only recently been recognized as separate from other forms of memory or memory systems. It is currently under intense experimental scrutiny. Evidence is converging for the proposition that priming is an expression of a perceptual representation system that operates at a pre-semantic level; it emerges early in development, and access to it lacks the kind of flexibility characteristic of other cognitive memory systems. Conceptual priming, however, seems to be based on the operations of semantic memory.
Contingent dissociation between recognition and fragment completion: the method of triangulation.
Two experiments conforming to the logic of the method of triangulation were conducted. Following the study of a list of words, the first of two successive tests (recognition) was identical for two groups of subjects, but the second one, in which the same word-fragment cues were presented to both groups, differed with respect to retrieval instructions. Subjects in one group engaged in cued recall of study-list words, whereas those in the second group completed the fragments with the first word that came to mind. Both experiments yielded the same result: The dependency between the first and second tests, indexed by Yule's Q statistic, was greater for recognition and cued recall than it was for recognition and fragment completion. These results speak to the controversial issue of the usefulness of contingency analyses of data from successive memory tests. The results are interpreted in a theoretical framework consisting of an integration of the idea of a hypothetical quasi-memory system with the transfer-appropriate procedural approach.
Priming of semantic autobiographical knowledge: a case study of retrograde amnesia.
The case of a 36-year-old man who suffers dense retrograde and anterograde amnesia as a result of closed-head injury that caused extensive damage to his left frontal-parietal and right parieto-occipital lobes is described. Patient K.C. has normal intelligence and relatively well-preserved perceptual, linguistic, short-term memory, and reasoning abilities. He possesses some fragmentary general knowledge about his autobiographical past, but he does not remember a single personal event or happening from any time of his life. He has some preserved expert knowledge related to the work he did for 3 years before the onset of amnesia, although he has no personal recollections from that period. Some features of K.C.'s retrograde amnesia can be interpreted in terms of the distinction between episodic and semantic memory, and in terms of the distinction between episodic and semantic autobiographical knowledge. K.C.'s semantic knowledge, but not his episodic knowledge, showed progressive improvement, or priming, in the course of the investigation.
Recognition failure of categorized words.
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Multiple memory systems and consciousness.
This Introduction to the Special Issue on Human Memory discusses some of the recent and current developments in the study of human memory from the neuropsychological perspective. A problem of considerable current interest, that of multiple memory systems, is a problem in classification. Much of the evidence for it is derived from clinical and experimental observations of dissociations between performances in memory tasks. The distinction between short-term and long-term memory is considered as an example of classification by dissociation. Current conceptualizations of multiple long-term memory systems are reviewed from the vantage point that distinguishes among three major kinds of memory--episodic, semantic, and procedural. These systems are briefly described and compared, and current views concerning the relation between them are discussed. The role of consciousness in memory is raised against the backdrop of the suggestion that it may be necessary to differentiate among several kinds of consciousness.
Computer learning by memory-impaired patients: acquisition and retention of complex knowledge.
Several investigators have shown that memory-impaired patients are capable of learning relatively simple information in both the laboratory and everyday life. The present research explored whether patients with memory disorders could also acquire complex knowledge--the domain-specific knowledge needed for operating and interacting with a microcomputer. The results indicated that patients with memory disorders of varying severity could learn to manipulate information on the computer screen, to write, edit and execute simple computer programs, and to perform disk storage and retrieval operations. The learning process, however, was slow relative to controls and the knowledge acquired appeared to be qualitatively different. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Learning and retention of computer-related vocabulary in memory-impaired patients: method of vanishing cues.
Several investigators have suggested that microcomputers might serve as useful external aids for memory-impaired patients. However, knowledge of basic computer vocabulary may be necessary for patients to use and benefit from a microcomputer. The present paper describes a procedure, the method of vanishing cues, which facilitated the acquisition of computer-related vocabulary in four memory-impaired patients. The method involves the systematic reduction of letter fragments of to-be-learned words across trials. Although learning was slow and strongly dependent on first-letter cues, all patients acquired a substantial amount of the vocabulary and eventually were able to produce the target words in the absence of fragment cues. Further, they retained the vocabulary over a 6-week interval and showed some transfer of the knowledge they had acquired. These findings suggest that memory-impaired patients may eventually be able to use a microcomputer as a prosthetic device.
Mnemonic precedence in amnesic patients: an analogue of the AB error in infants?
Amnesic patients were able to retrieve an object hidden at an initial location after a brief delay, but subsequently failed to retrieve an object at a new location, and instead searched for it at the old place. This phenomenon, which we call mnemonic precedence, resembles the AB error that has been observed in 8-10-month-old infants. The parallel performance of amnesics and infants on object search tasks is consistent with the hypothesis that memory deficit, rather than defective object concept, plays a major role in the AB error. The influence of memory processes on tests of symbolic representation is discussed.
Context effects in the storage and retrieval of information in man [proceedings].
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