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Relearning and subsequent forgetting of semantic category exemplars in a case of semantic dementia
Authors:
GRAHAM, K.S., PATTERSON, K., Pratt, K.H. & HODGES J.R.
Reference:
Neuropsychology, 13(3), 359-380.
Year of publication:
1999
CBU number:
3817
Abstract:
Over 15 months of longitudinal assessment, a patient with semantic dementia, DM, improved on tests of naming and category fluency for a specific set of items (Experiment 1). We attribute this to his home drill with the names of these concepts plus pictures and descriptions of them. In Experiment 2, DM produced significantly more exemplars on category fluency for semantic categories that he had been practising at home than for non-practised categories, an effect which cannot be attributed to an inherent difference between the two sets because the fluency performance of control subjects revealed ono significant difference between the two sets. In Experiment 3, DM rehearsed some of his previously non-practised categories daily for a period of two weeks: his fluency scores on the experimental categories improved substantially, but declined once he ceased the daily drill. The results are discussed with respect to current views of long-term memory, particularly new word learning and forgetting, and of techniques for facilitating word-finding aphasia.
