Amnesia

For other uses, see Amnesia (disambiguation).
"Amnesiac" redirects here. For the Radiohead album, see Amnesiac (album). For the 2014 film, see Amnesiac (film). For the Drosophila gene, see Amnesiac gene.

Amnesia
Other namesAmnesic syndrome
SpecialtyPsychiatry, neurology

Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,[1] but it can also be temporarily caused by the use of various sedative and hypnotic drugs. The memory can be either wholly or partially lost due to the extent of damage that is caused.[2]

There are two main types of amnesia:

  • Retrograde amnesia is the inability to remember information that was acquired before a particular date, usually the date of an accident or operation.[3] In some cases, the memory loss can extend back decades, while in other cases, people may lose only a few months of memory.
  • Anterograde amnesia is the inability to transfer new information from the short-term store into the long-term store. People with anterograde amnesia cannot remember things for long periods of time.

These two types are not mutually exclusive; both can also occur simultaneously.[4]

Case studies also show that amnesia is typically associated with damage to the medial temporal lobe. In addition, specific areas of the hippocampus (the CA1 region) are involved with memory. Research has also shown that when areas of the diencephalon are damaged, amnesia can occur. Recent studies have shown a correlation between deficiency of RbAp48 protein and memory loss. Scientists were able to find that mice with damaged memory have a lower level of RbAp48 protein compared to normal, healthy mice.[5][6] In people with amnesia, the ability to recall immediate information is still retained,[7][8][9] and they may still be able to form new memories. However, a severe reduction in the ability to learn new material and retrieve old information can be observed. People can learn new procedural knowledge. In addition, priming (both perceptual and conceptual) can assist amnesiacs in the learning of fresh non-declarative knowledge.[1] Individuals with amnesia also retain substantial intellectual, linguistic, and social skills despite profound impairments in the ability to recall specific information encountered in prior learning episodes.[10][11][12]

The term is from Ancient Greek 'forgetfulness'; from ἀ- (a-) 'without' and μνήσις (mnesis) 'memory'.

  1. ^ a b Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
  2. ^ "Amnesia." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 4th ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 182–184. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
  3. ^ Schacter, Daniel. L "Psychology"
  4. ^ David X. Cifu; Henry L. Lew (10 September 2013). Handbook of Polytrauma Care and Rehabilitation. Demos Medical Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61705-100-5.
  5. ^ Pavlopoulos, Elias; Jones, Sidonie; Kosmidis, Stylianos; Close, Maggie; Kim, Carla; Kovalerchik, Olga; Small, Scott A.; Kandel, Eric R. (28 August 2013). "Molecular mechanism for age-related memory loss: the histone-binding protein RbAp48". Science Translational Medicine. 5 (200): 200ra115. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3006373. ISSN 1946-6242. PMC 4940031. PMID 23986399.
  6. ^ Kosmidis, Stylianos; Polyzos, Alexandros; Harvey, Lucas; Youssef, Mary; Denny, Christine A.; Dranovsky, Alex; Kandel, Eric R. (23 October 2018). "RbAp48 Protein Is a Critical Component of GPR158/OCN Signaling and Ameliorates Age-Related Memory Loss". Cell Reports. 25 (4): 959–973.e6. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2018.09.077. ISSN 2211-1247. PMC 7725275. PMID 30355501.
  7. ^ Dewar, Michaela; Della Sala, Sergio; Beschin, Nicoletta; Cowan, Nelson (2010). "Profound retroactive interference in anterograde amnesia: What interferes?". Neuropsychology. 24 (3): 357–367. doi:10.1037/a0018207. ISSN 1931-1559. PMC 2864945. PMID 20438213.
  8. ^ Baddeley, Alan; Wilson, Barbara A. (April 2002). "Prose recall and amnesia: implications for the structure of working memory". Neuropsychologia. 40 (10): 1737–1743. doi:10.1016/S0028-3932(01)00146-4. PMID 11992661. S2CID 22404837 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  9. ^ Benson, D. Frank (1978). "Amnesia". Southern Medical Journal. 71 (10): 1221–1227. doi:10.1097/00007611-197810000-00011. PMID 360401. S2CID 220554752.
  10. ^ LS., Cermak (1984). The episodic-semantic distinction in amnesia. New York: Guilford Press. p. 55.
  11. ^ M, Kinsbourne (1975). Short-term memory processes and the amnesiac syndrome. New York: Academic. pp. 258–91.
  12. ^ H, Weingartner (1983). Forms of cognitive failure. Sc alzheimerience. pp. 221:380–2.