Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Neurological and Psychological Forms of Amnesia

  • Chapter
Neuropsychiatric Disorders

  • 1558 Accesses

Abstract

Amnesic disorders can be transient (a discrete episode of memory loss) or persisting. They can have a neurological or a psychological basis. Furthermore, neurological memory disorders can affect primarily episodic or semantic memory or both. Implicit (procedural) and working memory are commonly preserved. Psychogenic amnesia may be “global” or “situation specific.” The global form affects the whole of a person’s previous life and is commonly accompanied by a loss of the sense of personal identity. Situation-specific amnesia involves a discrete gap in a person’s memory, usually related to a traumatic episode. Examples of these various forms of memory loss are given and discussed in relationship to our current concepts of memory and the underlying pathophysiology.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. James W (1890) The principles of psychology, vol 1. Holt, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Gilboa A (2004) Autobiographical and episodic memory – one and the same? Neuropsychologia 42:1336–1349

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Hodges JR, Ward CD (1989) Observations during transient global amnesia: a behavioural and neuropsychological study of five cases. Brain 112:595–620

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Miller JW, Petersen RC, Metter EJ et al (1987) Transient global amnesia: clinical characteristics and prognosis. Neurology 1987:733–737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Quinette P, Guillery-Girard B, Dayan V et al (2006) What does transient global amnesia really mean? Review of the literature and thorough study of 142 cases. Brain 129:1640–1658

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Kritchevsky M, Squire LR, Zouzounis JA (1988) Transient global amnesia: characterization of anterograde and retrograde amnesia. Neurology 38:213–219

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Nakada T, Kwee IL, Fujii Y et al (2005) High-field, T2 reversed MRI of the hippocampus in transient global amnesia. Neurology 64:1170–1174

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Sander K, Sander D (2005) New insights into transient global amnesia: recent imaging and clinical findings. Lancet Neurol 4:437–444

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Kapur N (1990) Transient epileptic amnesia: a clinically distinct form of neurological memory disorder. In: Markowitsch H (ed) Transient global amnesia and related disorders. Hogrefe and Huber, New York, pp 140–151

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kopelman MD, Panayiotopoulos CP, Lewis P (1994) Transient epileptic amnesia differentiated from psychogenic ‘fugue’: neuropsychological, EEG and PET findings. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 57:1002–1004

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Butler CR, Zeman A (2008) Recent insights into the impairment of memory in epilepsy: a systematic review of transient epileptic amnesia, accelerated long-term forgetting and remote memory impairment. Brain 131:2243–2263

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Manes F, Graham KS, Zeman A et al (2005) Autobiographical amnesia and accelerated forgetting in transient epileptic amnesia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 76:1387–1391

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Victor M, Adams RD, Collins GH (1971) The Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Davis, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  14. Nadel L, Moscovitch M (1997) Memory consolidation, retrograde amnesia and the hippocampal complex. Curr Opin Neurobiol 7:217–227

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Moscovitch M, Nadel L, Winocur G et al (2006) The cognitive neuroscience of remote episodic, semantic and spatial memory. Curr Opin Neurobiol 16:179–190

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Bayley PJ, Gold JJ, Hopkins RO et al (2005) The neuroanatomy of remote memory. Neuron 46:799–810

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Bright P, Buckman J, Fradera A et al (2006) Retrograde amnesia in patients with hippocampal, medial temporal, temporal lobe, or frontal pathology. Learn Mem 13:545–557

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Scoville WB, Milner B (1957) Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal lesions. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 20:11–21

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Vincent A, Buckley C, Schott JM et al (2004) Potassium channel antibody-associated encephalopathy: a potentially immunotherapy-responsive form of limbic encephalitis. Brain 127:701–712

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Caine D, Watson JD (2000) Neuropsychological and neuropathological sequelae of cerebral anoxia: a critical review. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 6:86–99

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Kopelman MD, Thomson A, Guerrini I et al (2009) The Korsakoff syndrome: clinical aspects, psychology and treatment. Alcohol Alcohol 44:148–154

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Kopelman MD (1989) Remote and autobiographical memory, temporal context memory, and frontal atrophy in Korsakoff and Alzheimer patients. Neuropsychologia 27:437–460

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Korsakoff SS (1889) Psychic disorder in conjunction with peripheral neuritis (translated and republished: Victor M, Yakovlev PI (1955)) Neurology 5:394–406

    Google Scholar 

  24. Harper C (2009) The neuropathology of alcohol-related brain damage. Alcohol Alcohol 44:136–140

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Torvik A, Lindboe C, Rogde S (1982) Brain lesions in alcoholics: a neuropathological study. J Neurol Sci 56:233–248

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Mair WGP, Warrington EK, Weiskrantz L (1979) Memory disorder in Korsakoff’s psychosis; a neuropathological and neuropsychological investigation of two cases. Brain 102:749–783

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Mayes AR, Meudell PR, Mann D et al (1988) Location of lesions in Korsakoff’s syndrome: neuropsychological and neuropathological data on two patients. Cortex 24:367–388

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Harding A, Halliday G, Caine D et al (2000) Degeneration of anterior thalamic nuclei differentiates alcoholics with amnesia. Brain 123:141–154

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Colchester A, Kingsley D, Lasserson D et al (2001) Structural MRI volumetric analysis in patients with organic amnesia: 1. Methods and comparative findings across diagnostic groups. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 71:13–22

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Sullivan EV, Pfefferbaum A (2009) Neuroimaging of the Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome. Alcohol Alcohol 44:155–165

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Reed LJ, Lasserson D, Marsden P et al (2003) 18FDG–PET findings in the Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome. Cortex 39:1027–1045

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Hokkanen L, Launes J (2007) Neuropsychological sequelae of acute-onset sporadic viral encephalitis. Neuropsychol Rehabil 17:429–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Wilson BA, Kopelman M, Kapur N (2008) Prominent and persistent loss of past awareness in amnesia: delusion, impaired consciousness or coping strategy? Neuropsychol Rehabil 18:527–540

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. McGrath N, Anderson NE, Croxson MC et al (1997) Herpes simplex encephalitis treated with acyclovir: diagnosis and long term outcome. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 63:321–326

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Raschilas F, Wolff M, Delatour F et al (2002) Outcome of and prognostic factors for herpes simplex encephalitis in adult patients: results of a multicenter study. Clin Infect Dis 35:254–260

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Reed LJ, Lasserson D, Marsden P et al (2005) Correlations of regional cerebral metabolism with memory performance and executive function in patients with herpes encephalitis or frontal lobe lesions. Neuropsychology 19:555–565

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Kopelman MD (2002) Disorders of memory. Brain 125:2152–2190

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Kopelman MD (1987) Two types of confabulation. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 50:1482–1487

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Schnider A (2003) Spontaneous confabulation and the adaptation of thought to ongoing reality. Nat Rev Neurosci 4:662–671

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Gilboa A, Alain C, Stuss DT et al (2006) Mechanisms of spontaneous confabulations: a strategic retrieval account. Brain 129:1399–1414

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Turner MS, Cipolotti T, Yousry TA et al (2008) Confabulation: damage to a specific interior medial prefrontal system. Cortex 44:637–648

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Kopelman MD, Ng N, Van den Brouke O (1997) Confabulation extending across episodic memory, personal and general semantic memory. Cognit Neuropsychol 14:683–712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Schnider A, von Däniken C, Gutbrod K (1996) The mechanisms of spontaneous and provoked confabulations. Brain 119:1365–1375

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Burgess PW, Shallice T (1996) Confabulation and the control of recollection. Memory 4:359–411

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Schacter DL, Norman KA, Koustaal W (1998) The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory. Annu Rev Psychol 49:289–318

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Fotopoulou A, Solms M, Turnbull O (2004) Wishful reality distortions in confabulations: a case study. Neuropsychologia 42:727–744

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Fotopoulou A, Conway MA, Solms M et al (2008) Self-serving confabulation in prose recall. Neuropsychologia 46:1429–1441

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Dalla Barba G (1993) Confabulation: knowledge and recollective experience. Cognit Neuropsychol 10:1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Dalla Barba G, Cappelletti YJ, Signorini M et al (1997) Confabulation: remembering “another” past, planning “another” future. Neurocase 3:425–436

    Google Scholar 

  50. Berrington WP, Liddell DW, Foulds GA (1956) A re-evaluation of the fugue. J Ment Sci 102:280–286

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Stengel E (1941) On the aetiology of the fugue states. J Ment Sci 87:572–599

    Google Scholar 

  52. Schacter DL, Wang PL, Tulving E et al (1982) Functional retrograde amnesia: a quantitative case study. Neuropsychologia 5:523–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Glisky EL, Ryan L, Reminger S et al (2004) A case of psychogenic fugue: I understand, aber ich verstehe nichts. Neuropsychologia 42:1132–1147

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Mechanic M, Resick PA, Griffin MG (1998) A comparison of normal forgetting, psychopathology, and information-processing models of reported amnesia of recent sexual trauma. J Consult Clin Psychol 66:948–957

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Andrews B, Brewin CR, Rose S et al (2000) Predicting PTSD symptoms in victims of violent crime: the role of shame, anger, and childhood abuse. J Abnorm Psychol 109:69–73

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Taylor PJ, Kopelman MD (1984) Amnesia for criminal offences. Psychol Med 14:581–588

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Kopelman MD (2002) Psychogenic amnesia. In: Baddeley AD, Kopelman MD, Wilson BA (eds) The handbook of memory disorders, 2nd edn. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  58. Pyszora NM, Barker AF, Kopelman MD (2003) Amnesia for criminal offences: a study of life sentence prisoners. J Forens Psychiatry Psychol 14:475–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Christianson SA, Merckelbach H, Kopelman MD (2006) Crime-related amnesia. In: Heaton-Armstrong A, Shepherd E, Gudjonsson G et al (eds) Witness testimony: psychological, investigative and evidential perspectives. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 105–126

    Google Scholar 

  60. Gudjonsson GH, MacKeith JAC (1983) A specific recognition deficit in case of homicide. Med Sci Law 23:37–40

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Kopelman MD (2000) Focal retrograde amnesia and the attribution of causality: an exceptionally critical review. Cognit Neuropsychol 17:585–621

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. Kapur N (2000) Focal retrograde amnesia and the attribution of causality: an exceptionally benign commentary. Cognit Neuropsychol 17:623–637

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. Kapur N (1993) Focal retrograde amnesia in neurological disease: a critical review. Cortex 29:217–234

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Anderson MC, Green C (2001) Suppressing unwanted memories by executive control. Nature (Lond) 410:366–369

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. Anderson MC, Ochsner KN, Kuhl B et al (2004) Neural systems underlying the suppression of unwanted memories. Science 303:232–235

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. M.D. Kopelman(*)Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK

    Michael D Kopelman

  2. Academic Unit of Neuropsychiatry, 3rd Floor, Adamson Centre, South Wing,St. Thomas’s Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7EH, UKe-mail: michael.kopelman@kcl.ac.uk

    Michael D Kopelman

Authors
  1. Michael D Kopelman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael D Kopelman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jinmeikai Research Institute for Mental Health, 53-20 Kabutoyama-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, 662-0001, Japan

    Koho Miyoshi M.D., Ph.D. (Director, The former Professor) & Yasushi Morimura M.D., Ph.D. (Chief Executive Officer) (Director, The former Professor) &  (Chief Executive Officer)

  2. Ohmura Hospital, 200 Kitayama-Ohmura, Miki, Hyogo, 673-0404, Japan

    Koho Miyoshi M.D., Ph.D. (Director, The former Professor) (Director, The former Professor)

  3. Department of Occupational Therapy, Kobe Gakuin University School of Rehabilitation, 518 Ikawadani-cho, Nishi-ku, Kobe, 651-2180, Japan

    Kiyoshi Maeda M.D., Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kopelman, M.D. (2010). Neurological and Psychological Forms of Amnesia. In: Miyoshi, K., Morimura, Y., Maeda, K. (eds) Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-53871-4_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-53871-4_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-53870-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-53871-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation