Article

Failures of prospective memory (PM) are one of the most frequent, and least
studied, sequelae of brain injury. PM, also referred to as memory for intentions,
is the ability to remember to carry out a future task. Successful completion of a
PM task requires the ability to monitor time, keep the action to be performed
periodically in awareness, remember the task to be performed, and initiate the
action. Although PM has been shown to be a common difficulty after brain injury,
it remains unknown which aspects of performance are impaired. In this study, the
performance of 25 individuals with brain injury and that of 25 healthy
participants were measured separately on the following variables: time until
completion of the task, difficulty of the ongoing task being performed while
waiting, whether the task to be performed is an action or is verbal, and whether
the cue to perform the task is the passing of a particular amount of time (e.g.,
10 minutes) or is an external cue (e.g., an alarm sounding). Individuals with
brain injury demonstrated impairment compared to healthy adults on virtually all
variables. PM performance was also compared to a battery of standard
neuropsychological measures of attention, memory, and executive functions, and to
self-report measures of PM functioning, in order to determine the underlying
cognitive deficits responsible for poor PM performance, if any.
PM performance
was correlated with measures of executive functioning but not to self-report
measures of PM functioning. Implications are discussed in terms of cognitive
rehabilitation recommendations.

Langue : ANGLAIS