Hostname: page-component-669899f699-rg895 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-26T04:14:28.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Compensating for anterograde amnesia: A new training method that capitalizes on emerging smartphone technologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

EVA SVOBODA  and
BRIAN RICHARDS
EVA SVOBODA*
Affiliation:
Cognitive and Behavioural Health Program, Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
BRIAN RICHARDS
Affiliation:
Cognitive and Behavioural Health Program, Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Eva Svoboda, Cognitive and Behavioural Health Program, Baycrest, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1. E-mail: esvoboda@baycrest.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Following a neuropathological event, individuals left with moderate-to-severe memory impairment are unable to reliably form new memories. The most common challenges involve the capacity to perform a task in the future and to consciously recall a recent event. Disruption of these memory processes leaves the individual trapped in the present, unable to stay on track, and alienated from ongoing events. Memory research has demonstrated that implicit memory is often preserved despite severe explicit memory impairment and that preserved memory systems can provide avenues for acquiring new skills and knowledge. A within-subject single-case A1-B1-A2-B2 experimental design was used to introduce an established theory-driven training program of technology use for individuals with moderate-to-severe memory impairment. We describe its application to enabling RR, an individual with memory impairment postcolloid cyst removal, to independently support her memory using a commercial smartphone. RR showed successful outcome on both objective and qualitative measures of memory functioning. Moreover, she demonstrated consistent and creative generalization of acquired smartphone skills across a broad range of real-life memory-demanding circumstances. Our findings suggest that individuals with moderate-to-severe memory impairment are able to capitalize on emerging commercial technology to support their memory. (JINS, 2009, 15, 629–638.)

Keywords

Memory disordersRehabilitationTechnologyNeuropsychologyProgram evaluationCognition
Type
Neurobehavioral Grand Rounds
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , July 2009 , pp. 629 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Baddeley, A. & Wilson, B.A. (1994). When implicit learning fails: Amnesia and the problem of error elimination. Neuropsychologia, 32(1), 53–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks, D.N. & Baddeley, A.D. (1976). What can amnesic patients learn? Neuropsychologia, 14, 111–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cullen, C.N. (1976). Errorless learning with the retarded. Nursing Times, 72(6), 45–47.Google ScholarPubMed
Donaghy, S. & Williams, W. (1998). A new protocol for training severely impaired patients in the usage of memory journals. Brain Injury, 12(12), 1061–1076.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doyon, J., Penhune, V., & Ungerleider, L.G. (2003). Distinct contribution of the cortico-striatal and cortico-cerebellar systems to motor skill learning. Neuropsychologia, 41(3), 252–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, J.J., Wilson, B.A., Needham, P., & Brentnall, S. (2003). Who makes good use of memory aids? Results of a survey of people with acquired brain injury. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 9(6), 925–935.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fleming, J.M., Shum, D., Strong, J., & Lightbody, S. (2005). Prospective memory rehabilitation for adults with traumatic brain injury: A compensatory training programme. Brain Injury, 19(1), 1–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gentry, T., Wallace, J., Kvarfordt, C., & Lynch, K.B. (2008). Personal digital assistants as cognitive aids for individuals with severe traumatic brain injury: A community-based trial. Brain Injury, 22(1), 19–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glisky, E.L. (1995). Acquisition and transfer of work processing skill by an amnestic patient. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 5(4), 299–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glisky, E.L. & Schacter, D.L. (1987). Acquisition of domain-specific knowledge in organic amnesia: Training for computer-related work. Neuropsychologia, 25(6), 893–906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glisky, E.L., Schacter, D.L., & Tulving, E. (1986). Computer learning by memory-impaired patients: Acquisition and retention of complex knowledge. Neuropsychologia, 24(3), 313–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, G., Beers, S.R., Shemansky, W.J., & Longmore, S. (1998). An assistive device for persons with severe amnesia. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 35(2), 238–244.Google ScholarPubMed
Hart, T., Hawkey, K., & Whyte, J. (2002). Use of a portable voice organizer to remember therapy goals in traumatic brain injury rehabilitation: A within-subjects trial. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 17(6), 556–570.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henson, R.N. (2003). Neuroimaging studies of priming. Progress in Neurobiology, 70(1), 53–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, H.J., Burke, D.T., Dowds, M.M., Boone, K.A.R., & Park, G.J. (2000). Electronic memory aids for outpatient brain injury: Follow-up findings. Brain Injury, 14(2), 187–196.Google ScholarPubMed
Kim, H.J., Burke, D.T., Dowds, M.M., & George, J. (1999). Case study: Utility of a microcomputer as an external memory aid for a memory-impaired head injury patient during in-patient rehabilitation. Brain Injury, 13(2), 147–150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maylor, E.A. (1990). Age and prospective memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A, Human Experimental Psychology, 42(3-A), 471–493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milner, B., Corkin, S., & Teuber, H.L. (1968). Further analysis of the hippocampal amnesic syndrome: 14-year follow-up study of H.M. Neuropsychologia, 6(3), 215–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moscovitch, M. (1982). A neuropsychological approach to perception and memory in normal and pathological aging. In Craik, F.I.M. & Treehub, S. (Eds.), Aging and cognitive processes (pp. 55–78). New York, NY: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oddy, M. & Cogan, J. (2004). Coping with severe memory impairment. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 14(5), 481–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, B., Leach, L., & Proulx, G. (1990). Memory rehabilitation in a patient with bilateral dorsomedial thalamic infarcts. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 12, 395.Google Scholar
Schacter, D.L., Dobbins, I.G., & Schnyer, D.M. (2004). Specificity of priming: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(11), 853–862.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schacter, D.L. & Tulving, E. (1994). What are the memory systems of 1994. In Schacter, D.L. & Tulving, E. (Eds.), Memory systems 1994 (pp. 1–38). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sidman, M. & Stoddard, L.T. (1967). The effectiveness of fading in programming a simultaneous form discrimination for retarded children. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 10(1), 3–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sohlberg, M.M. & Mateer, C.A. (1989). Training use of compensatory memory books: A three stage behavioral approach. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 11(6), 871–891.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Squires, E.J., Hunkin, N.M., & Parkin, A.J. (1996). Memory notebook training in a case of severe amnesia: Generalising from paired associate learning to real life. Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 6(1), 55–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stapleton, S., Adams, M., & Atterton, L. (2007). A mobile phone as a memory aid for individuals with traumatic brain injury: A preliminary investigation. Brain Injury, 21(4), 401–411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Terrace, H.S. (1963). Discrimination learning with and without “errors”. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 6(1), 1–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Troyer, A.K. & Rich, J.B. (2002). Psychometric properties of a new metamemory questionnaire for older adults. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. 57B(1), P19–P27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tulving, E. & Schacter, D.L. (1990). Priming and human memory systems. Science, 247(4940), 301–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van den Broek, M.D., Downes, J., Johnson, Z., Dayus, B., & Hilton, N. (2000). Evaluation of an electronic memory aid in the neuropsychological rehabilitation of prospective memory deficits. Brain Injury, 14(5), 455–462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, T.K. & Troy, J.C. (2001). Mobile phones as a new memory aid: A preliminary investigation using case studies. Brain Injury, 15(4), 305–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, B.A., Baddeley, A., Evans, J., & Shiel, A. (1994). Errorless learning in the rehabilitation of memory impaired people. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 4(3), 307–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, B.A., Baddeley, A.D., & Cockburn, J.M. (1989). How do old dogs learn new tricks: Teaching a technological skill to brain injured people. Cortex, 25, 115–119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, B.A., Emslie, H.C., Quirk, K., & Evans, J.J. (2001). Reducing everyday memory and planning problems by means of a paging system: A randomised control crossover study. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 70(4), 477–482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, B.A., Evans, J.J., Emslie, H., & Malinek, V. (1997). Evaluation of NeuroPage: A new memory aid. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 63(1), 113–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, M., Richards, B., & Baeker, R. (2007) Designing a cognitive aid for and with people who have anterograde amnesia. In Lazar, J. (Ed.), Universal usability: Designing computer interfaces for diverse users (pp. 317–357). West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Yasuda, K., Misu, T., Beckman, B., Watanabe, O., Ozawa, Y., & Nakamura, T. (2002). Use of an IC recorder as a voice output memory aid for patients with prospective memory complaints. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 12(2), 155–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar