Using Recognition Testing to Support Semantic Learning in Developmental Amnesia

Patients with developmental amnesia (DA) have suffered hippocampal damage in infancy and subsequently shown poor episodic memory, but good semantic memory. It is not clear how patients with DA learn semantic information in the presence of episodic amnesia. However, patients with DA show well-developed recognition memory and these recognition abilities may support semantic learning. We present data from three experiments (two previously described in Elward & Vargha-Khadem, 2018). The first experiment showed that recall tests did not facilitate semantic learning. Patients with DA recalled only 35% of the learned information (controls recalled 80%). The second experiment indicated that multiple-choice recognition tests may facilitate learning. Patients with DA recalled 85% of the learned information. In experiment three, a patient with DA (aged 8 years) took part in a repeated-measures test so that recall learning and recognition learning could be directly compared. The results showed a clear benefit of recognition learning compared to recall learning (76% v. 35%). This finding indicates that young people with extensive hippocampal damage indeed utilise their recognition memory to support the integration of new information into their semantic system. This has important implications for the support of school-aged children with episodic memory difficulties.