CONTENT MEMORY AND TEMPORAL MEMORY FOR ACTIONS IN SURVIVORS OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

Memory for performed actions, a rehearsal-independent form of memory, was compared to verbal memory in 30 survivors of traumatic brain injur y (TBI) and 30 demographically matched controls. Subjects were tested on recognition and recall memory for the content of recently performed actions in the laboratory, as well as the ability to reconstruct the temporal order in which the actions were performed. Each subject perfo rmed actions under incidental and intentional memory instructions. Hal f of the subjects performed 12 actions, the other half 24 actions, wit h an equal number of usual and unusual actions in each list. Verbal me mory was assessed with paired-associate and temporal order tests, Alth ough recall was more proficient overall for the control compared to th e brain-injured subjects on both content and temporal memory for actio ns, memory for actions was better than verbal memory in both groups. B oth groups performed better overall on the short compared to the long list of actions and recalled unusual actions better than usual actions . The rehearsal-independent nature of action memory was supported, wit h no advantage for the intentional instruction. It is proposed that a retrieval deficit may be in part responsible for deficits in memory fo r actions following TBI. However, preserved ability to benefit from th e abundant contextual cues available through motor actions may account for the better recall of actions compared to words.