Impairment of implicit memory in patients with frontal lobe and occipital lobe stroke

Abstract

Objective To investigate the conception implicit memory (CIM) and perception implicit memory (PIM) impairment in patients with frontal and occipital lobe stroke patients. Method Patients with frontal lobe stroke (n=23) and occipital lobe stroke (n=21) and healthy controls (n=26) were administered with a neuropsychological battery of tests including conception and perception implicit memory (CIM and PIM) tasks，as well as explicit memory tasks including immediately recall,delay recall,delay recognition. Results Compared with healthy controls,patients with frontal lobe stroke performed poor CIM test (1.96±1.00 and 3.52±0.52,t=6.987,P<0.01),as well as its performance in explicit memory tasks including immediate recall(3.91±1.53 and 5.42±1.06),delay recall (6.04±3.05 and 8.19±1.60),delay recognition (22.61±4.71 and 25.38±3.24; t=2.428,3.990,3.138; all P<0.05).PIM was impaired in the patients with occipital lobe stroke (5.56±8.19 and 22.12±4.68, t=0.011,P<0.01),while there was no significant difference between occipital lobe stroke and healthy group in CIM task. Conclusion Frontal lobe stroke present CIM damage and PIM relative retention,while occipital lobe stroke patients perform PIM damage and CIM relative retention,confirm the dual separation in implicit memory neural mechanism. Key words: Stroke; Memory disorders; Neuropsychological tests