Mental imagery, human memory, and the effects of closed head injury

Several recent experiments suggest that mental imagery is relevant to an explanation of memory impairment resulting from neurological damage. This study compared a group of patients with recent closed head injuries with a control group of orthopaedic patients in their recall of concrete and abstract words. The head-injured subjects demonstrated a specific deficit in the recall of concrete material, which was interpreted as an impairment in the use of mental imagery as a form of elaborative encoding in long-term memory. It is suggested that the understanding of clinical conditions would be assisted by the application of the procedures and theoretical interests of experimental psychology.