Amnesia Health Article

PERIODICALS

Kaufman, Leslie. "The Forgetting People: Amnesiacs." Health 9, no. 6 (Oct. 1995): 86.

Squire, Larry R., and Stuart M. Zola. "Amnesia, Memory and Brain Systems." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 352 (1997): 1663.

"The Man Who Lost Himself." World Press Review 44, no. 6 (June 1997): 36. (Reprinted from Der Spiegel 17 Mar.1997.)

Julia Barrett

Key terms

Classical conditioning—The memory system that links perceptual information to the proper motor response. For example, Ivan Pavlov conditioned a dog to salivate when a bell was rung.

Emotional conditioning—The memory system that links perceptual information to an emotional response. For example, spotting a friend in a crowd causes a person to feel happy.

Explicit memory—Conscious recall of facts and events that is classified into episodic memory (involves time and place) and semantic memory (does not involve time and place). For example, an amnesiac may remember he has a wife (semantic memory), but cannot recall his last conversation with her (episodic memory).

Limbic system—The brain structures involved in memory.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—MRI uses a large circular magnet and radio waves to generate signals from atoms in the body. These signals are used to construct images of internal structures.

Motor skill learning—This memory system is associated with physical movement and activity. For example, learning to swim is initially difficult, but once an efficient stroke is learned, it requires little conscious effort.

Neurodegenerative disease—A disease in which the nervous system progressively and irreversibly deteriorates.

Priming memory—The memory system that joins perceptual and conceptual representations.

Transient ischemic attack—A sudden and brief blockage of blood flow in the brain.

Working memory—The memory system that relates to the task at hand and coordinates recall of memories necessary to complete it.