Abstract: The present study explored some characteristics of explict memory(free recall, recognition) and implicit memory( priming effects),of seventeen patients with moderate and severe closed-head injury, under four different levels of processing for single-characters. The results showed that: (1) The patients were impaired in explicit memory but normal in implicit memory. (2) Both groups had a better explicit memory in deep conceptual processing than in the shallow supperficial one; a so-called semantic facilitation occured at the expense of greater effort, the patients used much more effort than the controls did with poorer efficiency. Hence the closed-head injured patients exhibited a double quality of impairment and preservation in memory. Based on this, the authors proposed promising strategies for cognitive rehabilitation training, and provided a further neuro psychological evidence for the theoretical view that human beings possess different memory systems.

Key words: Closed-head in jured patients implicit memory explicit memory cognitive rehabilitation