[Metabolic toxic causes of amnesic episodes (author's transl)]

To analyze disorders of memory functions, observations were made in healthy test subjects after administration of psychotropic drugs and anesthetics. In isolated cases amnesic episodes were recorded and in 8 of the subjects accurate measurements of the retrograde amnesia after propanidid anesthesia were made. The observations provided arguments for the delimitation of the immediate memory (ultra-short-term memory, one minute memory) from short-term memory and long-term memory of the conventional terminology. As a result of our investigations we came to the thesis that the transformation of the non-specific biochemical and electrophysiological processes underlying the immediate memory into the specific processes underlying the short-term memory is more susceptible to disturbances than that of reproduction and the processes serving for perception. With regard to forensic assessment, it is significant that behaviour foreign to the personality could not be observed in amnesic episodes.