Amnesia

           Amnesia refers to the loss of memory. Memory loss may result from two-sided (bilateral) damage to parts of the : rain vital for memory storage, processing, or recall (the limbic system, including the hippocampus in the medial temporal lobe). Amnesia can be a symptom of several neurodegenerative diseases; however, people whose primary symptom is memory less (amnesiacs), typically remain lucid and retain their sense : £ self. They may even be aware that they suffer from a memory disorder. People who experience amnesia have been instrumental in helping brain researchers determine how the brain processes memory. Until the early 1970s, researchers viewed memory as a single entity. Memory of new experiences, motor skills, past events, and previous conditioning were grouped -seether in one system that relied on a specific area of the brain. If all memory were stored in the same way, it would be reasonable to deduce that damage to the specific brain Area would cause complete memory loss. However, studies of amnesiacs counter that theory. Such research demonstrates lint the brain has multiple systems for processing, storing,and drawing on memory.