Teaching a Patient to Remember People's Names after Removal of a Left Temporal Lobe Tumour

Abstract

This project was undertaken in an attempt to reduce one of the many problems faced by a man with a severe memory deficit following a left temporal tumour. He was taught to remember the names of 10 people he regularly came into contact with by using rehearsal and visual imagery strategies. Rehearsal alone was ineffective, but within a few weeks he could remember all 10 names once a visual image had been introduced. The findings suggest that this procedure may be used to teach other people with severe memory deficits facts which are useful in their everyday lives. The major difference between this project and most of the others using visual imagery is that the present one is of some practical value for the subject. Most of the others simply demonstrate the ability of the neurologically damaged to use visual imagery.