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Anterograde Amnesia
Anterograde amnesia is a loss or disturbance of
memory for events that occur after a trauma,
disease, or traumatic emotional event that caused
the memory disturbance.
For example, after a person suffers a traumatic
brain injury during a motor vehicle accident, he/she
may be unable to remember events that occur
afterwards, such as being at the scene of the
accident, being in the ambulance, and being in the
hospital.
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A form of anterograde amnesia is post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), which is an inability to
form consistent day-to-day memories due to traumaitc brain injury. PTA can also refer to
distrubance or loss of memory after a psychological trauma. Compare anterograde
amnesia with retrograde amnesia, which is a loss or disturbance of memory for events
that occurred before a trauma, disease, or a traumatic emotional event that caused the
memory disturbance. Except in rare circumstances, PTA is longer than retrograde
amnesia. This is because prior memories are overlearned and generally more easily
accessible. Anterograde amnesia comes from the Latin word "antero" meaning "foremost
or front," the Greek word "a" meaning "without," and the Greek word "mnemonic,"
meaning "memory." Put the words together and you have "without the front (part of)
memory," referring to memories after a trauma or disease happened.
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