Memory is a cognitive ability particularly sensitive to any type of brain pathology. Focal brain damage can significantly impair memory, especially if mesial structures of the temporal lobes are involved, as well as extended global processes, such as traumatic head injury, dementia, and similar conditions. Memory defects are known as [Page 1151]amnesias. There exists a basic distinction in amnesia: specific and nonspecific amnesia. Specific amnesia is a memory defect limited to a particular type of information, for instance, verbal amnesia, amnesia for faces, or amnesia for movements. Nonspecific amnesia refers to amnesia for every type of information. Patients with nonspecific amnesia can present an inability to store new information, that is so-called anterograde amnesia, and to recall previously learned information, that is retrograde amnesia.

Specific amnesias ...