The Effect of Semantic Categorisation on Recall Memory in Amnesia

Amnesic patients were compared to a healthy control group on recall of word lists containing semantically-related or unrelated words. As expected on the basis of previous literature, the amnesic group performed below the control group on all measures of recall. When total recall scores for each list were used as the index of performance, their scores were not significantly affected by the type of list, unlike those of the control group. Comparison of serial position effects for different parts of the lists revealed that the control group derived greater benefit from semantic relatedness in recall of items from the middle positions. This effect was not shown by the amnesic group, who showed similar U-shaped serial position curves for recall of all three lists, and appeared to use a more passive recall strategy than the control group. The findings are discussed in relation to our current understanding of amnesic deficits.