Mnemonic precedence in amnesic patients: an analogue of the AB error in infants?
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 phenomenon, which we call mnemonic precedence, resembles the AB 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 AB error. The influence of memory processes on tests of symbolic representation is discussed.
D000328:Adult; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology; D000647:Amnesia / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000523:psychology; D002657:Child Development; D003210:Concept Formation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D009949:Orientation