Memory deficits and industrial toxicant exposure: a comparative study of hard metal, solvent and asbestos workers.

Memory functioning was examined in ex-factory workers with hard metal disease, resulting from exposure to alloys utilizing cobalt. Since these workers are also exposed to organic solvents and may suffer from chronic hypoxia as a result of their pulmonary disorder, solvent and asbestos workers, as well as an unexposed matched sample, served as controls. Results demonstrated deficits in the allocation of attentional resources and in short-term verbal memory. A pattern of findings across several tests suggested that repetition or delay is important for adequate memory performance in individuals exposed to hard metal, implicating a deficit in encoding or slowed consolidation.