Amnesia is a disease that causes people to forget items stored in episodic memory. There are two main types of amnesia: anterograde and retrograde though it is possible to have both simultaneously. This page, created by Jessica Uzzo, will focus on retrograde amnesia which causes people to not remember events that happened before damage to the brain. Retrograde amnesia typically results from injury to the temporal lobe of the brain, often in the hippocampus, though it can result from other things. People suffering from this type of amnesia usually retain semantic memory (facts), though episodic memory is lost. For instance a widely used example is that the patient remembers what a piano is but not how to play it. Retrograde amnesia has been portrayed in films such as Mulholland Drive, Anastasia, and Overboard.
Helpful Links
http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/neurological-conditions/amnesia5.htm
Explains why retrograde amnesia affects episodic memory and not semantic memory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwigmktix2Y
Video clip from a BBC interview about a man with severe retrograde amnesia
http://www.scottbolzan.com/
Short biography and an interview with a former NFL player who slipped, hit his head, and lost the previous 46 years of his life
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/meet-benjaman-kyle-the-man-with-no-identity/19627063
News article about a man who was found beaten behind a Burger King and awoke with no memory of who he was
http://www.pnas.org/content/100/23/13626.full
Scientific article describing a study done that shows the amygdala and β-adrenergic antagonist can induce retrograde amnesia through emotion
http://neurology.health-cares.net/amnesia-treatment.php
Briefly describes possible treatments for amnesia in general
http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/13/5/545.full.pdf+html
Scholarly article describing several memory tests preformed on retrograde amnesia patients
http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/16/7/417.full.pdf+html
This article discusses how contextual information can override the effects of damage to the hippocampus which can cause retrograde amnesia
http://alicekim.ca/TulvingMoscovitch88.pdf
Case study done on a man with retrograde amnesia that showed the positive effects of priming on his amnesia
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535990/
Site that discusses the difference of portrayal of amnesia in movies and real life amnesia
If there are any questions or concerns about possible plagiarism or copyright infringement please contact me at 10618777@live.mercer.edu
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