This is the type of amnesia seen in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. They may fill in gaps in their memory with fabricated events (confabulation). Patients in this state often cannot remember what they ate for their last meal or events from the immediate past.

It is characterized by the inability to store, retain, or recall new knowledge after the event that triggers the onset of amnesia.

Anterograde amnesia is the most common.

This helps explain why amnesiacs often remember basic skills and motor function.There are several forms of amnesia: Procedural memory represents memory for single objects or tasks (e.g., riding a bicycle) and depends on cortical processors that remain intact in amnesia. Relational memory is concerned with relationships among objects and depends on the hippocampus.In amnesia, both relational memory and short-term memory may be impaired. Long-term memory includes relational and procedural memory.

Short-term or “working” memory stores information one needs to remember in the next few seconds, minutes, or hours (e.g., a telephone number or driving directions). Forms of Amnesia: Different Ways to ForgetThere are two types of memory. For example, visual and auditory patterns are stored in the temporal lobe, whereas the parietal lobe stores language, speech, word usage, and comprehension. Rather, several areas of the brain are involved in memory the type of information being assimilated determines where it is stored. This region of the brain is known as the limbic system it comprises the hippocampus, the amygdala, and portions of the cortex.Besides retrieving memory, the limbic system is responsible for coordination of emotion and motivation and for some of the functions of the endocrine system.People are amnesiac when the memory retrieval portion of the limbic system isn’t working properly but there is otherwise no change in language, attention span, visual/spatial functioning, or motivation.Memories are not actually stored in the limbic system or the hippocampus. By Life ExtensionAmnesia occurs when the portion of the brain responsible for retrieving stored memories is somehow compromised.

2 types of amnesia