AMNESIA

AMNESIA. — Loss of the faculty of remembering, due to alteration of the traces (symbols) imprinted in the nerve centers in relation to the individual’s representation of external objects. Whether retrograde or anterograde, partial (lacunar) or total, temporary or permanent, it may arise from purely functional and transient causes (fatigue, exhaustion, toxic or infectious states) or from severe organic alterations of the nerve centers (senile softening, destructive lesions of the brain). It may strike in isolation or globally the faculties of forming, retaining, and recognizing mnemonic traces; it will deplete the store of integration without, however, disturbing associative, logical, or critical activity.