IMPAIRED RETRIEVAL FROM REMOTE MEMORY IN PATIENTS WITH FRONTAL-LOBE DAMAGE

Patients with unilateral dorsolateral frontal robe lesions and matched controls were given 2 tests of remote memory for public information, the Public Events Test and the Famous Faces Test. On both tests, the p atients with frontal lobe lesions exhibited impaired recall for remote information. Recognition memory was relatively preserved. Provision o f semantic and phonemic cues in the Famous Faces Test did not complete ly compensate for their recall deficit. These findings suggest that th e remote memory impairment exhibited by frontal patients may be relate d to deficits in strategic search of memory. These deficits in retriev al from remote memory extend the array of memory deficits associated w ith damage to the frontal lobes.