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Frontal lobe damage produces episodic memory impairment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2009

Mark A. Wheeler
Affiliation:
Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Ontario
Donald T. Stuss
Affiliation:
Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Ontario University of Toronto, Department of Medicine (Neurology), Toronto, Ontario
Endel Tulving
Affiliation:
Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Ontario

Abstract

This article reports the outcome of a meta-analysis of the relation between the frontal lobes and memory as measured by tests of recognition, cued recall, and free recall. We reviewed experiments in which patients with documented, circumscribed frontal pathology were compared with normal control subjects on these three types of tests. Contrary to conventional wisdom, there is strong evidence that frontal damage disrupts performance on all three types of tests, with the greatest impairment in free recall, and the smallest in recognition. (JINS, 1995, 1, 525–536.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 1995

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