ABSTRACT
In this chapter we describe the neural and cognitive bases of memory, which, far from being unitary, is composed by different neurological and functional systems, such Autobiographic and Semantic Memory, Short and Long-Term Memory, Verbal and non-Verbal Memory, and Conscious and Unconscious memory. The complexity of such systems can, in most cases, only be partially affected by brain damage, producing, for example, a selective deficit of learning or retrieval or a specific impairment of Autobiographic or Semantic memory.
Memory impairments, both in normotype and brain damaged patients, can take different forms, from the loss (temporary or perpetual) of the memorandum, to its substitution with false memories, such as the phenomenon of Déjà Vu and Déjà Vecu.
