Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1995 Aug 1;92(16):7580–7584. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.16.7580

The deferred imitation task as a nonverbal measure of declarative memory.

L McDonough 1, J M Mandler 1, R D McKee 1, L R Squire 1
PMCID: PMC41383  PMID: 7638234

Abstract

We tested amnesic patients, patients with frontal lobe lesions, and control subjects with the deferred imitation task, a nonverbal test used to demonstrate memory abilities in human infants. On day 1, subjects were given sets of objects to obtain a baseline measure of their spontaneous performance of target actions. Then different event sequences were modeled with the object sets. On day 2, the objects were given to the subjects again, first without any instructions to imitate the sequences, and then with explicit instructions to imitate the actions exactly as they had been modeled. Control subjects and frontal lobe patients reproduced the events under both uninstructed and instructed conditions. In contrast, performance by the amnesic patients did not significantly differ from that of a second control group who had the same opportunities to handle the objects but were not shown the modeled actions. These findings suggest that deferred imitation is dependent on the brain structures essential for declarative memory that are damaged in amnesia, and they support the view that infants who imitate actions after long delays have an early capacity for long-term declarative memory.

Full text

PDF
7580

Images in this article

7582Fig. 1
on p.7582
7582Fig. 2
on p.7582

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bachevalier J., Brickson M., Hagger C. Limbic-dependent recognition memory in monkeys develops early in infancy. Neuroreport. 1993 Jan;4(1):77–80. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199301000-00020. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bachevalier J., Mishkin M. An early and a late developing system for learning and retention in infant monkeys. Behav Neurosci. 1984 Oct;98(5):770–778. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.98.5.770. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bachevalier J. Ontogenetic development of habit and memory formation in primates. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1990;608:457–484. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1990.tb48906.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chugani H. T., Phelps M. E., Mazziotta J. C. Positron emission tomography study of human brain functional development. Ann Neurol. 1987 Oct;22(4):487–497. doi: 10.1002/ana.410220408. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cohen N. J., Squire L. R. Preserved learning and retention of pattern-analyzing skill in amnesia: dissociation of knowing how and knowing that. Science. 1980 Oct 10;210(4466):207–210. doi: 10.1126/science.7414331. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cowan W. M., Fawcett J. W., O'Leary D. D., Stanfield B. B. Regressive events in neurogenesis. Science. 1984 Sep 21;225(4668):1258–1265. doi: 10.1126/science.6474175. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Diamond A. Abilities and neural mechanisms underlying AB performance. Child Dev. 1988 Apr;59(2):523–527. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Diamond A. The development and neural bases of memory functions as indexed by the AB and delayed response tasks in human infants and infant monkeys. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1990;608:267–317. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1990.tb48900.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Graf P., Squire L. R., Mandler G. The information that amnesic patients do not forget. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1984 Jan;10(1):164–178. doi: 10.1037//0278-7393.10.1.164. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Huttenlocher P. R. Morphometric study of human cerebral cortex development. Neuropsychologia. 1990;28(6):517–527. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(90)90031-i. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Huttenlocher P. R., de Courten C. The development of synapses in striate cortex of man. Hum Neurobiol. 1987;6(1):1–9. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Janowsky J. S., Shimamura A. P., Kritchevsky M., Squire L. R. Cognitive impairment following frontal lobe damage and its relevance to human amnesia. Behav Neurosci. 1989 Jun;103(3):548–560. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.103.3.548. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kretschmann H. J., Kammradt G., Krauthausen I., Sauer B., Wingert F. Growth of the hippocampal formation in man. Bibl Anat. 1986;(28):27–52. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Mandler J. M. Recall of events by preverbal children. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1990;608:485–516. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1990.tb48907.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. McAndrews M. P., Milner B. The frontal cortex and memory for temporal order. Neuropsychologia. 1991;29(9):849–859. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(91)90051-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. McDonough L., Mandler J. M. Very long-term recall in infants: infantile amnesia reconsidered. Memory. 1994 Dec;2(4):339–352. doi: 10.1080/09658219408258954. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. McKee R. D., Squire L. R. Equivalent forgetting rates in long-term memory for diencephalic and medial temporal lobe amnesia. J Neurosci. 1992 Oct;12(10):3765–3772. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.12-10-03765.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. McKee R. D., Squire L. R. On the development of declarative memory. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1993 Mar;19(2):397–404. doi: 10.1037//0278-7393.19.2.397. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Meltzoff A. N. Infant imitation and memory: nine-month-olds in immediate and deferred tests. Child Dev. 1988 Feb;59(1):217–225. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1988.tb03210.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. O'Brien E. J., Myers J. L. The role of causal connections in the retrieval of text. Mem Cognit. 1987 Sep;15(5):419–427. doi: 10.3758/bf03197731. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Polich J., Squire L. R. P300 from amnesic patients with bilateral hippocampal lesions. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1993 Jun;86(6):408–417. doi: 10.1016/0013-4694(93)90136-j. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Shimamura A. P., Jernigan T. L., Squire L. R. Korsakoff's syndrome: radiological (CT) findings and neuropsychological correlates. J Neurosci. 1988 Nov;8(11):4400–4410. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.08-11-04400.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Squire L. R., Amaral D. G., Press G. A. Magnetic resonance imaging of the hippocampal formation and mammillary nuclei distinguish medial temporal lobe and diencephalic amnesia. J Neurosci. 1990 Sep;10(9):3106–3117. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.10-09-03106.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Squire L. R., Knowlton B., Musen G. The structure and organization of memory. Annu Rev Psychol. 1993;44:453–495. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ps.44.020193.002321. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Squire L. R., Zola-Morgan S. The medial temporal lobe memory system. Science. 1991 Sep 20;253(5026):1380–1386. doi: 10.1126/science.1896849. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Warrington E. K., Weiskrantz L. The effect of prior learning on subsequent retention in amnesic patients. Neuropsychologia. 1974 Oct;12(4):419–428. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(74)90072-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Weiskrantz L. Problems of learning and memory: one or multiple memory systems? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1990 Aug 29;329(1253):99–108. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1990.0154. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES