The functional abilities of brain injured persons to live independently, were assessed using the Rancho Los Amigos Scale ratings of functional levels which were compared with memory error patterns on the Rey Complex Figure (Rey 1941) and the Recognition Trial developed by Meyers & Meyers (1995) Memory error patterns were described by Sohlberg & Mateer (1989), the least impaired memory error pattern was Retrieval, while Storage, Encoding and Attention patterns indicated greater defect Spearman rank order correlation revealed the strong association (r(S) = 86) of memory error pattern with Rancho Scale functional ratings In independent subjects 96 % achieved a Retrieval memory error pattern whereas 93% of subjects whose memory error pattern was poorer than a Retrieval pattern were unable to function independently Results indicate that patients obtaining a Retrieval (or better) memory error pattern may be expected to possess adequate cognitive resources for independent functioning.