We examined the role of schema knowledge in everyday action by assessing the use of
unfamiliar implements by patients with subcortical and frontal lobe damage. Although the
patients were relatively good at naming or showing how the unfamiliar implements could be
used outside of the task context, the patients omitted using the objects in everyday life tasks
more often than control participants—either omitting the action step involving the objects or
performing the action using a familiar object that was not normally used for this purpose. The …