Dissociations of Memory Processes: The Contribution of Research on Memory Impairment Following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)—A Focused Review: He Contribution of Research on Memory Impairment Following Traumatic Brain Injury (Tbi)—a Focused Review

Objective: Deficits in memory and learning skills are frequently reported following traumatic brain injury (TBI). The goal of the present focused review is to present memory studies of moderate-to-severe TBI that found, within the same sample, that one memory component is preserved, while another is impaired, demonstrating a dissociation. By reviewing these studies, we would like to claim that the breakdown of memory processes following TBI could unmask underlying sub-processes and components that seem inseparable in intact memory. Methods: The search criterion for this focused review was studies of memory functions following TBI (mostly moderate-severe) that reported on dissociations of various memory processes within the same sample, so that one process was impaired while another was preserved. Results: We found studies that adhered to the search criterion in several domains of memory: Working memory, episodic memory, verbal learning, priming, contextual memory and visual search. Conclusions: Characterization of the memory breakdown following TBI could contribute not only to the assessment and rehabilitation of this population but also to our understanding of the composition of intact memory system. These studies, although presenting a single dissociation, can still contribute to the validation of several dissociations introduced in the memory literature