Imagery as a mnemonic aid after left temporal lobectomy: contrast between material-specific and generalized memory disorders.

Abstract Patients with unilateral removals from the right or left temporal lobes, two amnesic patients with bilateral mesial temporal-lobe damage, and normal control subjects were taught to use visual imagery as an aid in the recall of verbal material. The results showed that, on a paired-associate learning task, patients with left temporal-lobe lesions could partially compensate for their verbal memory defects by using imagery, whereas amnesic patients derived no benefit from such a mnemonic. Patients with right temporal lobectomy performed similarly to normal subjects.