The Assessment of Cognitive Procedural Learning in Amnesia: Why the Tower of Hanoi Has Fallen Down

• Published in: Brain and cognition Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 79 - 96
• Main Authors: Winter, W.E., Broman, Melinda, Rose, Arthur L., Reber, Arthur S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.02.2001; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Alcohol Amnestic Disorder - complications; Alcohol Amnestic Disorder - physiopathology; amnesia; Amnesia - complications; Amnesia - physiopathology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Cognition Disorders - physiopathology; cognitive skill learning; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Humans; Key Words: Tower of Hanoi; Learning Disorders - diagnosis; Learning Disorders - etiology; Learning Disorders - physiopathology; Medical sciences; Neuropsychological Tests; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; procedural memory; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; procedural memory; amnesia; cognitive skill learning; Key Words: Tower of Hanoi; Human; Cognitive skill; Memory disorder; Nervous system diseases; Cognitive disorder; Declarative memory; Cerebral disorder; Learning; Acquisition process; Central nervous system disease; Problem solving; Strategy; Amnesia; Neurological disorder; Procedural memory; Hippocampus
• ISSN: 0278-2626; 1090-2147
• DOI: 10.1006/brcg.2000.1257

The Tower of Hanoi has been widely accepted as an evaluation of cognitive procedural learning in amnesia but inconsistent findings have raised questions about the nature of the learning process involved in this task. This article presents the performance of a hippocampal amnesic, MS, who, showing poor learning across daily sessions of a formal evaluation, subsequently solved the puzzle through spontaneous use of a declarative-level strategy (the odd–even rule), suggesting that his primary approach to the task was the deployment of declarative solution-searching strategies. The presented data suggest normal learning within daily sessions, but subnormal learning across daily sessions due to the forgetting of acquired declarative information. It is suggested that tasks that are potentially solvable by an algorithm or rule, as is the Tower of Hanoi, be regarded as inappropriate for use in cognitive procedural assessments.