Non Verbal Sequential Memory in Broca's Aphasia

Abstract

Memory problems can result from head trauma, stroke, anoxia, tumors, infections and vitamin B1deficiency or from excessive use of alcohol. Stroke or Cerebra Vascular Accident (CVA) is one of the most prevalent causes of aphasia. Although stroke is a major neurological disorder often leading to serious and long lasting sensorimotor, language and behavioral disabilities, little is known about severity and frequency of memory impairment following stroke. Impairments of both working memory and long-term memory have been observed in patients with aphasia. Most of the recent psycholinguistic research on the nature of normal linguistic storage has utilized verbal learning experimental procedures. The use of traditional verbal learning experimental procedures to assess memory in aphasics is likely to yield contaminated data as these materials seem to require direct utilization of mental processes which are presumably impaired in aphasics. It has also been suggested that the kind of stimulus employed and type of response required from the participants for assessment of memory may also affect the performance of both normals as well as aphasics. The present study was taken up to address such issues.