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Prospective memory functioning in people with and without brain injury

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2002

Yvonne C. T. Groot
Affiliation:
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
Barbara A. Wilson*
Affiliation:
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK The Oliver Zangwill Centre, Ely
Jonathan Evans
Affiliation:
The Oliver Zangwill Centre, Ely
Peter Watson
Affiliation:
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
*
Professor Barbara A Wilson, OBE, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Box 58, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2EF, UK. E-mail: barbara.wilson@mrccbu. cam.ac.uk

Abstract

Prospective remembering has been relatively underinvestigated in neurological patients. This paper describes a group study in which the prospective memory performance of 36 people with brain injury and 28 control participants is compared. We used a new instrument, the Cambridge Behaviour Prospective Memory Test (CBPMT) to assess prospective memory. This comprises 4 time-based and 4 event-based tasks. Participants were allowed to take notes to help them remember the tasks. The relationships between CBPMT scores, scores on formal tests and subjective reports on memory, attention and executive functioning were analyzed. The key findings were that (1) note-taking significantly benefited prospective memory performance, (2) significant relationships were found between scores on the prospective memory test and scores on tests of memory and executive functions, and (3) participants had more difficulty with the time-based than with the event-based prospective memory tasks. The results suggest that compensatory strategies improve prospective memory functioning; memory for content as well as attention and executive functioning processes are involved in prospective memory; and that time-based tasks are more difficult than event-based tasks because they place higher demands on inhibitory control mechanisms. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2002

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