Contribution of articulatory rehearsal to short-term memory: evidence from a case of selective disruption.
We describe a brain-damaged patient with disturbed articulatory rehearsal in whom all predictions derived from a working memory model were fulfilled. The patient showed a reduced verbal span, no word-length effect on immediate recall in both the visual or the auditory modalities, no phonological similarity effect in the visual modality, and no effect of articulatory suppression. A slowed overt articulation rate provided independent evidence for disrupted articulatory rehearsal. The other components of working memory, the visuospatial scratch-pad, phonological storage system, and central executive, were functional. The selectivity of the deficit can be taken as evidence for the specific role of articulatory rehearsal in working memory.
Belleville
S
S
Centre de Recherche du Centre hospitalier Côte-des-Neiges, Québec, Canada.
Peretz
I
I
Arguin
M
M
D001037:Aphasia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D010700:Phonetics; D012107:Research Design; D013060:Speech; D014796:Visual Perception