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Related Concept Videos

Dissociative Amnesia01:21

Dissociative Amnesia

Dissociative amnesia is a complex psychological condition that manifests as an inability to recall personal information, often tied to traumatic or stressful events. Unlike general amnesia, individuals with this condition retain the ability to perform routine activities and procedural tasks, such as operating a phone or navigating public transportation, yet experience profound gaps in autobiographical memory. These lapses may encompass significant life events, such as suicide attempts or...
Repressed Memory01:16

Repressed Memory

Repressed memories are a psychological phenomenon where memories of traumatic events are unconsciously blocked from a person's awareness. This process occurs as a defense mechanism, protecting the mind from the emotional impact of distressing or painful experiences. For example, a person who has experienced childhood trauma may grow up with no conscious recollection of the event. In such cases, the memories are thought to be buried deep within the subconscious, inaccessible to the conscious...
Dissociative Disorders01:27

Dissociative Disorders

Dissociative disorders represent complex psychological conditions characterized by disruptions in consciousness, memory, identity, or perception. These disruptions cause individuals to experience a disconnection from their thoughts, emotions, and memories. The phenomenon is not merely an occasional lapse in attention but a profound alteration in mental functioning that can severely impact daily life.
Dissociative Fugue
A hallmark feature of dissociative disorders is the dissociative fugue...
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory01:26

Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or playing an...
Amnesia01:13

Amnesia

Amnesia is a condition marked by long-term memory loss, which impairs the ability to recall past events or create new memories.
The severity and duration of memory loss vary depending on the type and underlying cause. Amnesia is classified into two main types: retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia is marked by the loss of memories formed before the onset of the condition. Patients may recall distant past events but often forget those occurring shortly before the incident.
Anterograde...
Traumatic Memory01:20

Traumatic Memory

Emotionally traumatic events often lead to memories that are exceptionally vivid and enduring, sometimes persisting with remarkable clarity throughout an individual's life. A classic example of this phenomenon is a person who survives a car accident. Even years later, they may recall every detail of the event with startling accuracy — the screeching of the tires, the jarring impact, and the acrid smell of burning rubber. Such vividness contrasts sharply with how an individual remembers mundane...

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Related Experiment Video

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A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
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Published on: January 5, 2018

Memory repression: brain mechanisms underlying dissociative amnesia.

Hirokazu Kikuchi1, Toshikatsu Fujii, Nobuhito Abe

  • 1Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. kiku0215@mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|March 24, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Dissociative amnesia involves altered brain activity, specifically increased prefrontal cortex (pFC) activity and decreased hippocampal activity, linked to memory repression. Recovery of memories correlated with the normalization of this neural pattern.

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Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection
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A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
08:05

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Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection
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Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection

Published on: August 26, 2011

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Dissociative amnesia is a memory disorder often following trauma, characterized by memory loss not due to brain damage.
  • The underlying neural mechanisms of memory repression in dissociative amnesia remain unclear.
  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can investigate brain activity during memory retrieval.

Observation:

  • Two patients with dissociative amnesia underwent fMRI scans while viewing recognizable, unrecognizable, and control stimuli.
  • Researchers compared brain activity between conditions where memories were recognizable versus unrecognizable.
  • fMRI revealed increased prefrontal cortex (pFC) activity and decreased hippocampal activity in both patients when recalling unrecognizable memories.

Findings:

  • A distinct pattern of altered neural activity was observed in patients with dissociative amnesia during memory retrieval.
  • This pattern included heightened pFC activation and diminished hippocampal activation, suggesting a role in memory repression.
  • One patient who recovered memories showed normalized brain activation post-treatment, while the other did not.

Implications:

  • The findings provide direct neural evidence linking memory repression in dissociative amnesia to specific brain activity patterns.
  • The study suggests the pFC may play a crucial role in inhibiting hippocampal memory retrieval during repression.
  • These insights could inform future therapeutic strategies targeting the neural basis of dissociative amnesia.