Define retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia.

Define retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia.

• A. Retrograde: inability to form new memories after the event; anterograde: loss of memories formed before the event.
• B. Retrograde: loss of memories formed before the event; anterograde: inability to form new memories after the event.
• C. Both retrograde and anterograde refer to motor memory.
• D. Both retrograde and anterograde refer to semantic memory.

Answer: (B)

After an event, memory impairments are described in terms of retrograde and anterograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia means losing memories that were formed before the event, while the ability to form new memories after the event remains intact. Anterograde amnesia means the opposite: the person has trouble forming new memories after the event, though memories from before the event can stay intact. In many cases, explicit memory for facts and events is affected more than implicit, procedural memory, especially with anterograde amnesia. The description that pairs past memories with retrograde and new memories with anterograde is the one that matches how these conditions are defined.

After an event, memory impairments are described in terms of retrograde and anterograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia means losing memories that were formed before the event, while the ability to form new memories after the event remains intact. Anterograde amnesia means the opposite: the person has trouble forming new memories after the event, though memories from before the event can stay intact. In many cases, explicit memory for facts and events is affected more than implicit, procedural memory, especially with anterograde amnesia. The description that pairs past memories with retrograde and new memories with anterograde is the one that matches how these conditions are defined.