Memory failures in everyday life following severe head injury

Abstract

Questionnaires concerning the incidence of memory failures in everyday life were used in a postal survey of the aftereffects of severe head injury. Several years after a severe injury, 50 patients were compared to 33 patients a similar period after a very mild injury. A questionnaire completed on behalf of each patient by someone living in daily contact with him appeared to have some validity as a memory measure. The pattern of memory failures reported was similar to that found in a previous study and this may primarily reflect the ease with which certain forms of memory failure can be observed. A questionnaire completed by the patients themselves had little validity, possibly because severely injured patients could not recall their own memory failures. Only a minority of severely injured patients were reported to be significantly handicapped by memory failures at this stage in their recovery.

The quantity, not the quality, of affect predicts memory vividness

“…However, many researchers have questioned the accuracy of subjects' self-assessments of their memories (Harris & Morris, 1986;Hermann, 1982;Sunderland, Harris, & Gleave, 1984), we therefore cannot presume the veracity of subjects ' vividness judgments without further validation.…”

Assessment of neuropsychologic impairments after head injury: Interrater reliability and factorial and criterion validity of the Neurobehavioral Rating Scale–Revised

“…When the patient has recuperated a degree of consciousness sufficient for evaluation of other aspects of behavior, the most obvious problems encountered are slowing of information processing and attention and learning problems. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Other frequent problems observed early postinjury and later concern the regulation of survival-oriented behavior, manifested in disinhibitory behavior (overeating, defensive behavior, changes in sexual behavior) [17][18][19][20][21] and of emotional state (indifference, irritability, excitation, incongruity of affect, emotional lability). [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] In addition, a deficit in one or the other aspect of intentional, or goal-oriented behavior is also frequent, affecting appropriate understanding of the social environment and perception of oneself, goal formulation or identification of needs, determination and organization of steps and means of attaining the goal or satisfying the needs (planning), execution of the plan, and verification of its appropriateness in relation to the goal or needs.…”

Caracterización neuropsicológica de las quejas de memoria en la población general: relación con la sintomatología prefrontal y el estrés percibido

“…Se aplicó una modificación del Cuestionario de Fallos de Memoria de la Vida Cotidiana, de 30 ítems, basado en el Memory Everyday Failures (MFE) (Sunderland, Harris y Baddeley, 1984;Sunderland, Harris y Gleave, 1984), que explora las quejas subjetivas de memoria. Por otro lado, se administró el Cuestionario Disejecutivo (DEX; Wilson, Alderman, Burgess, Emslie y Evans, 1996), de 20 ítems, con el objeto de valorar la presencia de sintomatología cognitiva, conductual y emocional relacionada con el funcionamiento de la corteza prefrontal.…”