MNEMONIC PRECEDENCE IN AMNESIC PATIENTS - AN ANALOGUE OF THE AB ERROR IN INFANTS?

  • 1 June 1986
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 57  (3) , 816-823
Abstract
Amnesic patients were able to retrieve an object hidden at an initial location after a brief delay, but subsequently failed to retrieve an object at a new location, and instead searched for it at the old place. This phemonenon, which w e call mnemonic precedence, resembles the A.hivin.B error that has been observed in 8-10-month-old infants. The parallel performance of amnesics and infants on object search tasks is consistent with the hypothesis that memory deficit, rather than defective object concept, plays a major role in the A.hivin.B error. The influence of memory processes on tests of symbolic representation is discussed.