ABSTRACT
Memory dysfunction is a vast topic, and not easily covered in one chapter. Here, several key studies are described in order to give a feel for the variety of approaches used and insights gained from working with people with neurological illness or psychiatric conditions. The overall theme is the application of memory theory and our understanding of memory in the real world to these special populations. For some disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, memory impairment is central to the disorder, and there is a great deal of information and research available on the disease. Other diseases, such as schizophrenia, are not usually thought of as memory disorders but, nonetheless, a great deal of work has been carried out on the memory dif®culties of people with that condition. These two different types of pathology are the focus of this chapter. There are far too many disorders for them all to be included here, so for a complete guide, we recommend a whole book devoted to the topic, The handbook of memory disorders, by Baddeley, Kopelman, and Wilson (2002).
