IMPAIRED USE OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES IN FREE-RECALL FOLLOWING FRONTAL LOPE DAMAGE

Free recall, use of organizational strategies, and interference effect s were assessed in patients with frontal lobe lesions and control subj ects. in three experiments, patients with frontal lobe lesions exhibit ed impaired free recall and reduced use of organizational strategies i n tests of memory. Reduced use of strategies was observed on tests of recall of unrelated items, as measured by subjective organization, and on tests of recall of related items, as measured by both category clu stering and subjective organization. Frontal patients benefited from s trategy instruction at either study or test, suggesting that both enco ding and retrieval processes are impaired by frontal lobe damage. Thes e findings indicate that the free recall impairments exhibited by pati ents with frontal lobe lesions may be caused at least in part by defic its in the use of organizational strategies. In addition, when first-l ist learning was matched for patients and control subjects, patients w ith frontal lobe lesions exhibited relatively increased sensitivity to proactive interference during second-list learning.