False recognition after a right frontal lobe infarction: memory for general and specific information.
We previously reported a case study of a man with right frontal lobe damage, BG, who showed extraordinarily high false alarm rates on remember-know recognition tests (Schacter, D. L. et al., Neuropsychologia, 1996, Vol. 34, pp. 793-808). Experiment 1 extends his high false alarm rate to yes-no recognition tests. BG typically gives false 'remember' responses on remember-know tests, and this pattern was uninfluenced when he was asked to explain the basis for his 'remember' responses (Experiments 2 and 3). When BG was given a semantic encoding task, he stopped giving 'remember'-based false alarms (Experiment 4). Signal detection analyses revealed that BG had a discrimination deficit and an abnormally liberal response bias (especially for 'remember' responses) in most conditions. Overall, BG's high false alarm rate is interpreted as reflecting an over-reliance on the general similarity between a test item and the study episode.
Curran
T
T
Department of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Schacter
D L
DL
Norman
K A
KA
Galluccio
L
L
D000368:Aged; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology