title: Amnesic disorders.
abstract: Memory disturbances frequently occur after brain damage, but can be associated with psychiatric illnesses as well. Amnesia--the most severe form of memory impairment--has several variants, including anterograde and retrograde amnesia, material-specific and modality-specific amnesia, and transient global amnesia. We searched databases to obtain an overview of amnesia research from the past 5 years. Research into amnesia has increased exponentially, probably because of the availability of modern brain-imaging techniques. In line with the view that memory is not a unity but is organised into several systems, amnesia is described as a multifaceted disease with a frequently poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Physiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany. hjmarkowitsch@uni-bielefeld.de
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Markowitsch
authors.forename: Angelica
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Staniloiu
mesh_terms: D000647:Amnesia / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D011379:Prognosis