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Bilateral parietal cortex damage does not impair associative memory for paired stimuli.
Marian E Berryhill1, David B Drowos, Ingrid R Olson
1Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. berryhil@psych.upenn.edu
Cognitive Neuropsychology
|January 28, 2010
Summary
The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is not central to forming new memories of associations. Damage to the PPC did not impair associative memory, suggesting its role lies elsewhere in episodic memory.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuropsychology
Background:
- Recent findings suggest the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is involved in episodic memory.
- The precise role of the PPC in episodic memory remains undefined.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is specifically involved in the associative aspects of episodic memory.
- To determine the PPC's role in forming and retrieving associations.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Assessed word-pair association learning and retrieval in PPC-damaged patients.
- Experiment 2: Evaluated object-location association retrieval using a spatial fan task in PPC-damaged patients.
- Experiment 3: Tested nonverbal audio-visual pair memory recall and confidence in PPC-damaged patients.
Main Results:
- PPC damage did not impair associative memory for verbal items (word pairs).
- Patients with PPC damage showed normal performance in object-location association retrieval.
- Nonverbal association memory recall was accurate, but confidence levels were significantly reduced in PPC-damaged patients.
Conclusions:
- The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) does not appear to play a central role in the formation of associations.
- Findings suggest the PPC is involved in other facets of episodic memory, potentially related to confidence or certainty of recall.
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