Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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:
Dissociative amnesia or psychogenic amnesia is a dissociative disorder "characterized by retrospectively reported memory gaps. These gaps involve an inability to recall personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature."
Characters with memory disorders have helped to move literature and media along by allowing for suspense to be created either through retrograde or traumatic amnesia as seen in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound. It can also provide comic relief if a character is introduced who has short-term memory impairments.
Retrograde amnesia is typically patchy, and may affect the hours, days, months or even occasionally years prior to the TGA episode and is often subtle. Memory of things that happened in the more ...
Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a neurological disorder whose key defining characteristic is a temporary but almost total disruption of short-term memory with a range of problems accessing older memories.
Korsakoff syndrome (KS) [1] is a disorder of the central nervous system characterized by amnesia, deficits in explicit memory, and confabulation.This neurological disorder is caused by a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B 1) in the brain, and it is typically associated with and exacerbated by the prolonged, excessive ingestion of alcohol. [2]
Amnesia is seen in patients who, for the reason of preventing another more serious disorder, have parts of their brains known to be involved in memory circuits removed, the most notable of which is known as the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system, described below.
By introducing an amnesia-inducing drug during this process, the memory can be disrupted. While the memory remains intact, the emotional reaction is damped, making the memory less overwhelming. Researchers believe this drug will help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder be able to better process the trauma without reliving the trauma ...