After defining functional amnesia, we briefly outline the memory systems and their main neural correlates. Here we focus on discussing research data aiming to unravel the “mystery” of forgetting in so-called functional amnesia. Media often portray societies plagued by an excessive fear of forgetting ( Hacking, 1995) or being forgotten, a fear that is named athazagoraphobia. The “loss” of memory – amnesia – has been regarded as a major handicap for an individual, being often equated in the past with dementia. On the other hand, forgetting the past is perceived as a significant threat to the identity of individuals or groups, especially in highly individualized societies. 262) stated that: “If we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing.” The disease brought by remembering everything was later on metaphorically illustrated by Borges’ character, the memorious Funes, who reaches a state where he cannot act anymore ( Eco et al., 1999). 5), the prospect of “running” (remembering) our entire life on a daily basis appeared as being terrifying and burdening ( Parker et al., 2006). On the contrary, similarly to the prospect that “every second of our lives recurs an infinite number of times” ( Kundera, 1985, p. Incidentally, exceptional mnemonical abilities were not typically identified as a blessing by their owners ( Luria, 1987 Parker et al., 2006). Suggestions about the benefits of an optimum balance between forgetting and remembering can be traced back before Ribot’s time ( Hacking, 1995), to the Greek mythology, where goddess Lethe, symbolizing forgetting complemented Mnemosyne, representing memory. 8) and Nietzsche emphasized the virtue of “active forgetfulness.” As Edward Casey commented, Heidegger in “Time and Being” interpreted forgetfulness as being “more primordial than remembering” ( Casey, 2000, p. Weinrich (1997), the author of “Lethe–Kunst und Kritik des Vergessens” (Lethe – Art and Critique of Forgetting) argued that human beings are by nature forgetting creatures ( animal obliviscens) and that we frequently use the word “forgetting” to be reminded, not to forget someone or something (“Forget-me-not” has been the flower of the loving couples since the fifteenth century). This observation suggests a mnestic blockade in functional amnesia that is triggered by psychological or environmental stress and is underpinned by a stress hormone mediated synchronization abnormality during retrieval between processing of affect-laden events and fact-processing. In a substantial number of patients, we observed a synchronization abnormality between a frontal lobe system, important for autonoetic consciousness, and a temporo-amygdalar system, important for evaluation and emotions, which provides empirical support for an underlying mechanism of dissociation (a failure of integration between cognition and emotion). Several mechanisms may play a role in “forgetting” in functional amnesia, such as retrieval impairments, consolidating defects, motivated forgetting, deficits in binding and reassembling details of the past, deficits in establishing a first person autonoetic connection with personal events, and loss of information. A detailed report of a new case is included to illustrate the challenges posed by making an accurate differential diagnosis of functional amnesia, a condition that may encroach on the boundaries between psychiatry and neurology. Patients were investigated medically, neuropsychologically, and neuroradiologically. An overview of clinical, epidemiological, neuropsychological, and neurobiological aspects of functional amnesia is presented, by preponderantly resorting to own data from patients with functional amnesia. Stress and traumatic experiences could affect this connection, resulting in memory disturbances, such as functional amnesia. Forgetting operates in a dynamic neural connection with remembering, allowing the elimination of unnecessary or irrelevant information overload and decreasing interference. Remembering the past is a core feature of human beings, enabling them to maintain a sense of wholeness and identity and preparing them for the demands of the future. 3Hanse Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, Germany.2Center of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany.1Physiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany.
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