Amnesia; Durations; Production; Reproduction; Memory systems
Abstract :
[en] The present experimental investigates the ability of an amnesic patient (AC) to estimate three durations (5, 14 or 38 s) in two different temporal tasks (reproduction and production). In the reproduction task, AC and control subjects first had to encode one of the three durations and then to reproduce it. In the production task, they were asked to produce one of the three durations given in chronometric units. AC's performance showed a clear dissociation according to the tasks and the durations. His productions of the three durations and his reproductions of 5 s did not differ from those of the controls, whilst his reproductions of longer durations (14 and 38 s) were systematic underestimations. The results suggest that reproduction involves a long-term storage in episodic memory for durations exceeding the short-term memory capacity, whereas production of durations given in chronometric units involves semantic memory, which contains the representation of several durations, and working memory, which permits the maintenance of temporal information throughout each trial.
Allan L.G. (1979) The perception of time. Perception and Psychophysics 26:340-354.
Baddeley A.D. Working Memory, Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1986.
Baddeley A. (1995) Working memory. The Cognitive Neurosciences , In: Gazzaniga MS, editor; A Bradford Book Cambridge: MIT Press; 47:755-764.
Baddeley A., Emslie H., Nimmo-Smith I. Doors and People: A Test of Visual and Verbal Recall and Recognition, Suffolk: Thames Valley Test Company; 1994.
Binkofski F., Block R.A. (1996) Accelerated time experience after left frontal cortex lesion. Neurocase 2:485-493.
Casini L., Macar F. (1993) Behavioural and electrophysiological evidence for the specific processing of temporal information. Psycholologica Belgica 33:285-296.
Church R.M. (1984) Properties of the internal clock. Timing and Time Perception. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences , In: Gibbon J, Allan L, editors; 423:556-582.
Fraisse P. Psychologie du Temps, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France; 1967.
Kinsbourne M., Hicks R.E. (1990) The extended present: Evidence from time estimation by amnesics and normals. Neuropsychological Impairments of Short-term Memory , In: Vallar G, Shallice T, editors; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 319-329.
Kopelman M.D., Wilson B.A., Baddeley A.D. The Autobiographical Memory Interview, Bury St Edmunds: Thames Valley Test; 1990.
Macar F. Le Temps: Perspectives Psycholphysiologiques, Bruxelles: Pierre Mardaga; 1980.
Michon J.A. Timing in Temporal Tracking, Soesterberg, The Netherlands: Institute for Perception RVO-TNO; 1967.
Milner B. (1971) Interhemispheric differences in the localization of psychological processes in man. British Medical Bulletin 27:272-277.
Nelson H.E. (1976) A modified card sorting task sensitive to frontal lobe defects. Neuropsychologia 12:313-324.
Norman D.A., Shallice T. Attention to Action: Willed and Automatic Control of Behavior, University of California San Diego CHIP; Report 99; 1980.
Raven J.C. Guide to the Standard Progressive Matrices, London: HK Lewis; 1960.
Richards W. (1973) The reproductions by H.M. Acta Psychologica 37:279-282.
Shaw C., Aggleton J.P. (1993) The ability of amnesic subjects to estimate time intervals. Neuropsychologia 32:857-873.
Treisman M. (1963) Temporal discrimination and indifference interval: Implications for a model of the 'internal clock'. Psychological Monographs 77:1-31.
Van Der Linden M., Coyette F. (1995) Acquisition of word processing knowledge in an amnesic patient: Implications for theory and rehabilitation. Broken Memories: Neuropsychological Case Studies, In: Campbell R, Conway M, editors; Oxford: Blackwell; .
Van Der Linden M., Bredard S., Depoorter N., Coyette F. (1996) Semantic memory and amnesia: A case study. Cognitive Neuropsychology 13:391-413.
Vanneste S., Perbal S., Pouthas V. (1999) Estimation de la duree chez des sujets jeunes et ages: Role des processus attentionnels et mnesiques. L'Annee Psychologique 385-414.
Venneri A., Pestell S., Gray C.D., Della Sala S., Nichelli P. (1998) Memory, attention, and estimation of time. Brain and Cognition 37:168-172.
Warrington E.K. Recognition Memory Test, NFER: Nelson Publishing Company; 1984.
Wechsler D. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Manual, New York, NY: Psychological Corp; 1955.
Williams J.M., Medwedeff C.H., Haban G. (1989) Memory disorder and subjective time estimation. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 11:713-723.
Woodrow H. (1951) Time perception. Handbook of Experimental Psychology , In: Stevens SS, editor; New York, NY: Wiley; 1224-1236.
Zakay D. (1990) The evasive art of subjective time measurement: Some methodological dilemmas. Cognitive Models of Psychological Time. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum , In: Block RA, editor; 59-84.
Zakay D., Block R.A. (1998) New perspective on prospective time estimation. Time and the Dynamic Control of Behavior , In: De Keyser V, D'Ydewalle G, Vandierendonck A, editors; Seattle, WA: Hoogrefe and Huber; 9:129-141.
