Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:29:40.559Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Quantitative modeling of category learning in amnesic patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2001

J. VINCENT FILOTEO
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego and Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Diego, CA 92161
W. TODD MADDOX
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712
JENNIFER DUNCAN DAVIS
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Abstract

Category rule learning was examined in two amnesic patients using the perceptual categorization task (e.g., Ashby & Gott, 1988; Filoteo & Maddox, 1999). Traditional accuracy-based analyses as well as quantitative model-based analyses were performed. Unlike accuracy-based analyses, the model-based approach allowed us to examine both categorization rule learning and variability in the trial-by-trial application of the participant's categorization rule. The results indicated that the amnesic patients were as accurate as the controls in learning a complex, nonlinear rule over a large number of trials. The model-based analysis indicated that, in general, the amnesic patients learned the categorization rule as well as controls and applied their rule as consistently as controls. Categorization performance on a second day of testing revealed that amnesic patients can retain the categorization rule over a 24-h period. These results suggest that the brain regions damaged in amnesia are not involved in category learning or memory for the category structures. (JINS, 2001, 7, 1–19.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2001 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)