Understanding of amnesia has been substantially driven by case studies of patients such as HMĦ, and indeed this approach remains informative provided that robust methodological approaches are adoptedħ. This well-established primary neurological locus means that research with patients can inform both the amnesic condition and how the hippocampus and MTL contribute to memory and cognitive function more broadly. Although a range of brain areas can be involved in profound memory loss (for example, the prefrontal cortex or, in the case of alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome, the thalamic/diencephalic region), neurologically derived amnesia has more commonly been associated with damage to the hippocampus specifically and to the medial temporal lobes (MTLs) more broadly. The neurological basis of amnesia will obviously depend on the aetiological nature and extent. The large majority of cases represent adult-acquired memory loss, although individuals have been identified as having ‘developmental amnesia’, acquired at birth or in infancyģ. Herpes simplex encephalitis), and alcoholic Korsakoff’s syndrome. Causes can include traumatic head injury, neurosurgery (for example, to treat severe epilepsy), anoxia/hypoxia (lack of oxygen), ischaemia, viral infection ( Instead, the focus is on the amnesic condition as a long-lasting or permanent disorder, emerging from an organic or neurological cause.

However, the nature of these problems means that other functional and mechanistic descriptions likely apply, and so they are outside the scope of this overview. The extensive impacts of this condition mean that individuals with amnesia usually require assistance in daily life.Īmnesia can be temporary or have a psychological root (for example, transient global amnesiaĢ) and is a term used in reference to memory problems in various neurological conditions (for example, amnestic mild cognitive impairment). Mnesis (memory), and at a broad level, amnesia can be defined as a profound loss of memory. This is likely due in part to the centrality of memory in defining our place in the world and sense of self, in enabling effective everyday functioning, and of the often-striking loss of memory function in patients with amnesia, relative to healthy individuals.

The ‘amnesic syndrome’ has a relatively high profile both in the neuropsychological literature and in popular culture.

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