Vocabulary

Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form new memories for facts and events after the onset of amnesia.

Consolidation
Process by which a memory trace is stabilized and transformed into a more durable form.

Decay
The fading of memories with the passage of time.

Declarative memory
Conscious memories for facts and events.

Dissociative amnesia
Loss of autobiographical memories from a period in the past in the absence of brain injury or disease.

Encoding
Process by which information gets into memory.

Interference
Other memories get in the way of retrieving a desired memory

Medial temporal lobes
Inner region of the temporal lobes that includes the hippocampus.

Retrieval
Process by which information is accessed from memory and utilized.

Retrograde amnesia
Inability to retrieve memories for facts and events acquired before the onset of amnesia.

Temporally graded retrograde amnesia
Inability to retrieve memories from just prior to the onset of amnesia with intact memory for more remote events.