Certain tasks that come under the rubric of procedural may be learned by subjects with various organic disorders who otherwise have marked difficulty recalling new information over time. One such tasks is called Tower of Hanoi. It involves moving discs from one peg to another. As well as a procedural component, it also involves problem solving and has been used as a model for conscious problem solving in artificial intelligence. It is though that the neural system which mediates procedural performance (the basal ganglia) is distinct from the system that is involved in higher level problem solving (prefrontal) or everyday long term memory for items (diencephalic and medial temporal). Two versions of the Tower of Hanoi were administered to schizophrenic patients as well as a control task that involved higher level visual spatial processing. In addition, efforts were made to teach both tasks to patients who experienced difficulty.
