Recognition memory test: validity in diffuse traumatic brain injury

This study evaluated the validity and clinical utility of the Recognition Memory Test (RMT) as a measure of memory in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). RMT scores for 86 TBI inpatients were related to injury severity, lesion location, and other memory indices. Only recognition memory for words (RMW) was significantly (p<0 01) related to duration of posttraumatic amnesia and a measure of "day to day" memory. Both RMT subtests showed expected modality-specific relationships with other clinical memory tasks. Patients with normal CT and right sided CT lesions tended to be more frequently impaired on recognition memory for faces (RMF) than RMW.