amnesia

(noun)

Loss of memory; forgetfulness.

Related Terms

Examples of amnesia in the following topics:

  • Amnesia

    • There are two main forms of amnesia: retrograde and anterograde.
    • Retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall memories made before the onset of amnesia.
    • Anterograde amnesia is the inability to create new memories after the onset of amnesia, while memories from before the event remain intact.
    • Childhood amnesia, also called infantile amnesia, is the inability of adults to retrieve memories before the age of 2–4.
    • There are two main forms of amnesia: retrograde and anterograde.

  • Repressed Memories

    • Psychogenic amnesia, or dissociative amnesia, is a memory disorder characterized by sudden autobiographical memory loss, said to occur for a period of time ranging from hours to years. 
    • More recently, dissociative amnesia has been defined as a dissociative disorder characterized by gaps in memory of personal information, especially of traumatic events.
    • In a change from the DSM-IV to the DSM-5, dissociative fugue is now classified as a type of dissociative amnesia.
    • Psychogenic amnesia is distinguished from organic amnesia in that it is supposed to result from a nonorganic cause; no structural brain damage or brain lesion should be evident, but some form of psychological stress should precipitate the amnesia.
    • However, psychogenic amnesia as a memory disorder is controversial.

  • Dissociative Disorders

    • Amnesia in DID is understood to mean amnesia between two or more of the distinct identities; the host alter will experience "losing time" in the present another alter takes the place of the one the host alter.
    • Amnesia refers to the partial or total forgetting of some experience or event.
    • Dissociative fugue, while it used to be its own diagnosis in the previous DSM-IV-TR, is now subsumed under dissociative amnesia as a specifier (i.e., dissociative amnesia with or without dissociative fugue).
    • Unlike DID, the length of an event of dissociative amnesia may be a few minutes or several years.
    • If an episode is associated with a traumatic event, the amnesia may clear up when the person is removed from the traumatic situation.

  • Memory Distortions and Biases

    • Source amnesia is the inability to remember where, when, or how previously learned information was acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge.
    • Source amnesia is part of ordinary forgetting, but can also be a memory disorder.
    • People suffering from source amnesia can also get confused about the exact content of what is remembered.

  • Introduction to Memory Storage

    • Amnesia, a deficit in memory, can be caused by brain damage.
    • Anterograde amnesia is the inability to store new memories; retrograde amnesia is the inability to retrieve old memories.
    • These types of amnesia indicate that memory does have a storage process.

  • Neural Correlates of Memory Consolidation

    • Damage to the hippocampus usually results in difficulties forming new memories, or anterograde amnesia, and normally also brings about problems accessing memories that were created prior to the damage, or retrograde amnesia.

  • The Limbic System

    • Damage to the hippocampus usually results in profound difficulties in forming new memories (anterograde amnesia), and may also affect access to memories formed prior to the damage (retrograde amnesia).

  • Introduction to the Process and Types of Memory

    • Problems can occur at any stage of the process, leading to anything from forgetfulness to amnesia.