Shallice and Warrington, Case of KF 1970 Challenge MSM

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate the relationship between LTM and STM, when STM is impaired

Question 2

Participant+Prior Info

Answer 2

Patient KF

• suffered bike accident at 17, damage to parietal occipital lobe
• Developed Epilepsy, unable to repeat letters and numbers
• damage to STM, but LTM remained in tact

Question 3

Method

Answer 3

• Strings (verbal lists) of 1,2,3 and 4 items of three types of verbal material
  -Numbers
  -Letters
  -Words (4-5 letter word)
  K.F was asked to verbally repeat the strings/items after an auditory listening

Question 4

Results

Answer 4

KF could only able to repeat one item reliably

• Numbers were stronger than letters
• Later Experiments demonstrates KF strength in visual tasks instead of auditory

Question 5

Conclusion

Answer 5

Experiment=KF severely damaged STM
-Later experiment would demonstrate intact LTM
Difference between auditory and visual memory capacity suggests two separate stores for these modalities

Question 6

Challenge MSM

Answer 6

Contradicts the MSM theory and suggests that material in the LTM has first been processed in the STM
-Contradict the linearity, that a damaged STM=limited LTM, not the case of KF

Question 7

Strengths

Answer 7

Case Study, one person

Carefully designed experiments

Question 8

Limitations

Answer 8

No analysis of why numbers had a greater recall than words

No explanation of the process of recalling auditory information