ABSTRACT
As the present volume amply illustrates, many different approaches may be taken to the study of relationships between emotion and memory. The approach we adopt in this chapter involves the study of patients who exhibit psychogenic retrograde amnesia, or amnesia that is apparently motivated by a psychological need to “block out” from memory certain highly emotional events. We present case studies of two patients (K and F) who exhibit persisting amnesia for all forms of memory acquired during a 39-year (K) or 16-year (F) time period apparently framed or punctuated by emotionally unpleasant events. These amnesias bring into sharp focus questions concerning the role of major life events in the organization of memory, and questions about the emotional factors underlying functional impairments of memory.
