Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- I Introducing Cognitive Neuropsychology
- II Converging Operations: Specific Syndromes and Evidence from Normal Subjects
- 3 The Short-Term Memory Syndrome
- 4 The Peripheral Dyslexias
- 5 The Central Dyslexias
- 6 The Agraphias
- 7 Language Operations: Are Input and Output Processes Separate?
- 8 The Generality of the Approach: The Case of Visual Perception
- III Inferences from Neuropsychological Findings
- IV Central Processes: Equipotentiality or Modularity?
- References
- Subject Index
- Author Index
- Index of Patients Cited
3 - The Short-Term Memory Syndrome
from II - Converging Operations: Specific Syndromes and Evidence from Normal Subjects
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- I Introducing Cognitive Neuropsychology
- II Converging Operations: Specific Syndromes and Evidence from Normal Subjects
- 3 The Short-Term Memory Syndrome
- 4 The Peripheral Dyslexias
- 5 The Central Dyslexias
- 6 The Agraphias
- 7 Language Operations: Are Input and Output Processes Separate?
- 8 The Generality of the Approach: The Case of Visual Perception
- III Inferences from Neuropsychological Findings
- IV Central Processes: Equipotentiality or Modularity?
- References
- Subject Index
- Author Index
- Index of Patients Cited
Summary
The Syndrome
To isolate a new functional syndrome that does not have its characteristics mapped out by previous studies is a difficult and delicate process. The investigator has to be sensitive to the presence of a novel dissociation, itself a far from straightforward matter. Then a set of simpler and duller explanations in terms of syndromes that are already known have to be assessed. Only if they can be adequately rejected has a putative functional syndrome been isolated and only then can one begin to consider its theoretical implications. In this chapter, I am going to illustrate the process by considering a single syndrome – the short-term memory syndrome – from both a clinical and a theoretical perspective.
It is in clinical practice that new syndromes are detected. An unexpected result on a particular test is noticed and explored. In the present case, the unexpected result occurred on the Wechsler IQ battery. Many clinicians begin their assessment of a patient by using Wechsler subtests, not primarily to obtain an estimate of IQ but to see if any particular pattern of scores occurs across the different subtests (e.g. McFie, 1975; Lezak, 1976). In the late 1960s, Elizabeth Warrington was using this procedure to assess a patient, KF, who had sustained a severe head injury. He had a very low score on the Digit Span subtest, with performance on other subtests being relatively normal (Table 3.1) Obviously, no theoretical inferences can be made unless the deficit is reliable.
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- Information
- From Neuropsychology to Mental Structure , pp. 41 - 67Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1988
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