| |
Abstract:
The frontal cortices are important for retrieval and
monitoring processes required for item specific recognition.
Neuropsychological evidence for this view was provided by a patient
(BG) suffering from a right fronto-lateral brain lesion in front of
the precentral gyrus, who exhibited large false alarm rates for
items that were conceptually similar with previously studied items.
Here we examined whether this selective deficit is a general
characteristic of frontal lobe pathology. Six frontal lobe patients
and 12 controls performed a recognition memory task. The test words
included studied words (OLD), new words (NEW) and new words which
were semantically related to studied words (LURE). Patients and
controls showed higher rates of old responses to LURE words (false
recognition) than to NEW words and performance in both groups
decreased from a short (40 sec) to a long (80 sec) retention delay.
Patients with bilateral and left lateral fronto-polar lesions
showed no selective enhancement of false alarms to LURE words. This
latter effect was only obtained in one patient with an extended
right-hemispheric lesion including the posterior division of the
middle and inferior frontal gyri. This lesion area is comparable to
the lesion of patient BG. Extending the findings on patient BG this
result suggests that the right posterior fronto-lateral cortex is
more relevant for item specific recognition memory than other right
frontal regions.
|
