ABSTRACT
Amnesia is the name given to disorders of memory. Amnesia normally involves severe forgetfulness which goes beyond the everyday forgetting observed in normal people, to the extent that it may interfere with the activities of normal life. Amnesia is a very disabling condition, but it is also a disorder from which a great deal can be learned about the nature of memory function. Remote memory tests can either involve the testing of past public events, which are likely to have been familiar to most people, or past personal events, which tend to be unique to each individual. Tests of past public events, such as major news events from the past, allow the same test items to be used for all participants. Tests of past personal events focus on an individual’s autobiographical memory, by asking them about their personal experiences. The scores attained on such tests by different people cannot be directly compared, since each person will be recalling different events.
