Memory deficits

In this chapter, the neuropsychologic literature concerning memory deficits following parietal lesions is reviewed. Left inferior parietal lobule lesions definitely cause verbal short-term memory impairments, while right parietal lesions disrupt visuospatial short-term memory. Episodic memory, as well as autobiographic memory, does not seem to be impaired after both unilateral and bilateral parietal lesions, in contrast with neuroimaging studies reporting activation of the lateral parietal cortex during memory tasks. The most substantiated hypothesis is that the parietal lobe is involved in the subjective experience of recollection. Indeed, patients with parietal lesions produce fewer false memories and show lower confidence in their source recollections, possibly due to a limited number of details that they are able to report. Finally, the parietal lobes contribute to semantic memory as far as abstract concepts are concerned; in addition some sparse evidence on traumatic brain injury suggests that the parietal lobe is part of the distributed network involved in prospective memory.