This review investigates the severity and nature of post-stroke working memory deficits with reference to the multi-component model of working memory. We conducted a systematic search in PubMed up to March 2019 with search terms for stroke and memory. Studies on adult stroke patients, that included a control group, and assessed working memory function, were selected. Effect sizes (Hedges’ g) were extracted from 50 studies (in total 3,084 stroke patients) based on the sample size, mean and standard deviation of patients and controls. Performance of stroke patients was compared to healthy controls on low-load (i.e. capacity) and high-load (executively demanding) working memory tasks, grouped by modality (verbal, non-verbal). A separate analysis compared patients in the sub-acute and the chronic stage. Longitudinal studies and effects of lesion location were systematically reviewed. Stroke patients demonstrated significant deficits in working memory with a moderate effect size for both low-load (Hedges’ g = -.58 [-.82 to -.43]) and high-load (Hedges’ g = -.59 [-.73 to -.45]) tasks. The effect sizes were comparable for verbal and non-verbal material. Systematically reviewing the literature showed that working memory deficits remain prominent in the chronic stage of stroke. Lesions in a widespread fronto-parietal network are associated with working memory deficits. Stroke patients show decrements of moderate magnitude in all subsystems of working memory. This review clearly demonstrates the global nature of the impairment in working memory post-stroke.

本综述参考工作记忆的多成分模型调查了中风后工作记忆缺陷的严重性和性质。截至 2019 年 3 月，我们在 PubMed 中进行了系统搜索，其中包含中风和记忆的搜索词。选择了针对成人中风患者的研究，其中包括对照组，并评估了工作记忆功能。效应量（Hedges' g) 根据样本量、患者和对照的均值和标准差从 50 项研究（总共 3,084 名中风患者）中提取。将中风患者的表现与低负荷（即能力）和高负荷（执行要求高）工作记忆任务的健康对照组进行比较，按形式（语言、非语言）分组。另一项分析比较了亚急性期和慢性期的患者。系统回顾了纵向研究和病变位置的影响。中风患者表现出显着的工作记忆缺陷，低负荷 (Hedges' g  = -.58 [-.82 to -.43]) 和高负荷 (Hedges' g = -.59 [-.73 到 -.45]) 任务。语言和非语言材料的效果大小相当。系统回顾文献表明，工作记忆缺陷在中风的慢性阶段仍然很突出。广泛的额顶叶网络中的病变与工作记忆缺陷有关。中风患者在工作记忆的所有子系统中都表现出中等程度的下降。这篇综述清楚地表明了中风后工作记忆损害的整体性质。