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Functional (dissociative) retrograde amnesia
H J Markowitsch1, A Staniloiu2
1Department of Physiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany.
Handbook of Clinical Neurology
|October 11, 2016
Summary
Retrograde amnesia, often linked to psychiatric conditions, may stem from an "inability to access" memories rather than permanent loss. This challenges the organic vs. psychogenic divide, suggesting shared mechanisms in memory retrieval.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Retrograde amnesia can result from brain damage or psychiatric illness.
- Understanding amnesia requires defining memory content and retrieval processes.
- The distinction between organic and psychogenic retrograde amnesia is often unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the etiologies of retrograde amnesia, including brain damage and psychiatric causes.
- To explore the overlap between organic and psychogenic (dissociative) amnesia.
- To propose the "inability of access hypothesis" as a unifying explanation.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on retrograde amnesia.
- Analysis of memory content divisions and measurement techniques.
- Discussion of dissociative amnesia and its relationship to organic forms.
Main Results:
- The dichotomy between organic and psychogenic retrograde amnesia is questioned.
- The "inability of access hypothesis" is proposed to explain memory retrieval deficits in both forms.
- Recovery from amnesia and continued learning in dissociative amnesia are addressed.
Conclusions:
- Research on retrograde amnesia is nascent, with unknown neural correlates of memory storage.
- Episodic-autobiographic memory recollection likely involves right frontotemporal regions.
- Hypometabolism in these regions may be characteristic of dissociative amnesia.
Keywords:
dementiadissociative amnesiaepisodic-autobiographic memoryhypoxiainfarctpsychogenicpsychogenic amnesiatransient global amnesiatraumatic brain injury (TBI)More Related Videos
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