Specificity of Immediate Memory Function Associated with Cerebral Cortex Damage

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The psychometric assessment of memory presents special problems in that inferences regarding this function seem to be markedly dependent upon the conditions under which it is measured. Thus, following exposure to experience X, it is problematic whether a single statement regarding a person's ability to remember X can be made. His ability would likely be a function of the time between exposure and reinstatement (Ebbinghaus, 1913; Luh, 1922; Postman and Rau, 1957) and whether assessment involved recognition, free recall, or relearning (Luh, 1922; Postman and Rau, 1957). Beyond these, the importance of the sensory channel involved in the initial experience or in reinstatement (Thurstone, 1938, p. 86) and the nature of the content to be retained (Benton, 1945) remains relatively unexplored. All of these considerations dictate against accepting differing psychological test measures of memory as equivalent and, conversely, suggest that any generalized statements regarding memory ability should be based upon several different measures.