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Directed forgetting in frontal patients' episodic recall.

Andrés P, Van der Linden M, Parmentier FB

School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom. pandres@plymouth.ac.uk

The aim of this study was to examine the performance of a group of patients with lesions of the prefrontal cortex in directed forgetting in episodic memory, i.e. the capacity to actively forget irrelevant information. Four lists of 24 intermixed to-be-remembered (TBR) and to-be-forgotten (TBF) words were presented for retention. Restricted (TBR only) and unrestricted (TBR and TBF) recall were tested. The results showed that prefrontal patients presented with a general reduction in episodic memory but a normal ability to selectively recall the TBR items during restricted and unrestricted recall. These results are consistent with previous reports of intact directed forgetting in frontal patients and are discussed in terms of their implications for the current debate on the neural substrate of executive functions.

Published 15 January 2007 in Neuropsychologia, 45(6): 1355-62.
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