Procedural memory — MRCPsych Paper A MCQ

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ModeratePsychologyProcedural memoryMRCPsych Paper A

A 56-year-old man with severe anterograde amnesia practises a mirror-drawing task over several sessions. His completion time and error rate progressively improve, and the improvement is retained 24 hours later. However, at each session he reports no recollection of having performed the task before. Which memory function is demonstrated by this pattern?

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Correct answer: C — Preserved procedural memory

The correct answer is **D, preserved procedural memory**. Procedural memory is an implicit long-term memory system supporting the acquisition and retention of skills through practice. The man's progressively improved mirror-drawing performance, retained after 24 hours, demonstrates learning even though he has no conscious recollection of previous sessions. His episodic memory is therefore impaired, making E incorrect. Semantic memory concerns factual and conceptual knowledge rather than acquisition of a new perceptual-motor skill. Working memory temporarily holds and manipulates information and does not explain improvement retained between sessions. Priming is another form of implicit memory, but the vignette demonstrates repeated acquisition of a motor skill rather than facilitated processing following prior stimulus exposure.

Reference: Gabrieli JD, Corkin S, Mickel SF, Growdon JH. Intact acquisition and long-term retention of mirror-tracing skill in Alzheimer's disease and in global amnesia. Behavioral Neuroscience. 1993;107(6):899–910. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8136066/