ABSTRACT
As part of the efforts to analyze memory functions into more basic processes, various cases of memory pathology have been examined in great detail. Behind this line of investigation usually lies the hope that under abnormal conditions, the dissection of a given cognitive function into its underlying components may be easier and that different aspects of a function that appear correlated in the normal individual may be found to be dissociated in pathological cases. A good example is the extensive investigation of unilateral and bilateral hippocampal destruction in man by Milner and her associates (for review, see Milner, 1970), which showed, among other findings, dissociation between verbal and nonverbal memory functions. Another relevant example is the analysis of memory recovery following closed-head traumas (Russell, 1971). The fact that retrieval of familiar memories covering a period of up to several years prior to the trauma may be impossible for a while, and then recovers, presents puzzling questions to con solidation theories.
