Final answer:
A brain-injured patient excelling in a golf swing but not in recalling American history demonstrates better procedural memory than declarative memory. Procedural memory is responsible for motor skills, while declarative memory is for recalling facts and events.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question concerns a brain-injured patient who retains the physical skill to perform specific motor tasks, such as a perfect golf swing, but has lost the cognitive ability to recall or relearn historical information. This scenario suggests that the patient excels in procedural memory, which is part of the long-term memory responsible for knowing how to do things, also known as motor skills. In contrast, they struggle with declarative memory, which involves the ability to recall facts and events, such as American history.
Procedural memory is often preserved in patients with brain injuries, even when other memory systems, like declarative memory, are impaired. This is because procedural and declarative memories are stored in different parts of the brain. The basal ganglia and cerebellum are critical for procedural memory and are often less affected by brain injuries that impact the temporal lobes or hippocampus, which are important for declarative memory.