Final answer:
Baddeley and Wilson found that amnesic patients struggle with forming new episodic and semantic memories but can still acquire new procedural memories.
Step-by-step explanation:
Baddeley and Wilson conducted research on amnesic patients, specifically focusing on their memory abilities. One important finding was that individuals with amnesia often have difficulty forming new episodic or semantic memories, which are conscious and intentional memories about personal experiences or general knowledge. However, they can still form new procedural memories, which are unconscious and involve skills or habits.
The researchers studied a famous amnesic patient named Henry Molaison, also known as H.M., who had undergone brain surgery that resulted in anterograde amnesia. H.M. was unable to form new memories of events or facts after the surgery but could still acquire new skills through practice and repetition.
For example, H.M. would repeatedly read the same magazine because he had no memory of reading it before. However, if he solved a puzzle multiple times, his speed at solving it would improve over time, indicating that he was able to learn and remember the procedural steps for solving the puzzle without remembering the specific instances of solving it.