| Summary: | Student Number : 9000358J -
MA research report -
School of Human and Community Development - Psychology -
Faculty of Humanities === Memory is a collection of systems in the brain that work in
conjunction with other systems and modalities to effect encoding, storage,
retrieval, and learning of information. It also plays a part in the executive
and other higher order functions (Banich, 1997). Patients who suffered a
traumatic brain injury frequently have impaired memory functioning and a
host of consequential problems as well. Rehabilitation of TBI patients is
focused primarily on helping TBI patients to cope with and compensate for
their disabilities (Hart, Whyte, Polansky, Millis, Hammond, Sherer,
Bushnik, Hanks & Kreutzer, 2003) and one of the most important aspects
of rehabilitation is memory (Quemada, Cespedes, Ezkerra, Ballesteros,
Ibarra & Urruticoechea, 2003). In this study a commercially available
memory enhancement program (Mega Memory® System) was used in an
intervention with ten male TBI sufferers to evaluate its effectiveness in
rehabilitation of memory. Subjects were assessed before and after the
intervention on the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Tests and the Benton
Visual Retention Test. Group results on Rivermead did not show any
significant improvement of memory functioning, but the Number Correct
scores on the Benton did. All subjects showed improvement on different
aspects of memory functioning, especially in the domains of memory for
everyday events, verbal, figurative, and spatial memory immediately
following administration of the program. Overall the changes in memory
functioning was not significant.
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