IMPLICIT LEARNING IN CLOSED-HEAD INJURED SUBJECTS - EVIDENCE FROM AN EVENT SEQUENCE LEARNING-TASK

A group of 20 closed head injured (CHI) subjects and 20 neurologically intact controls were tested on an event sequence learning task (Nisse n & Bullemer, 1987) designed to assess implicit learning. Despite seve re explicit memory and learning deficits as measured by the California Verbal Learning Test, CHI subjects showed intact implicit learning an d this learning was retained over a 20 minute delay. The results suppo rt the view that implicit memory and learning processes are relatively robust in the presence of severe neurological damage.