Carissa recently had viral encephalitis and suffered some brain damage as a result.The doctors who are trying to assess the extent of the damage have noted that she has good recall of childhood memories and of events that happened just before she became ill.However, she can't remember anything that has happened since her illness, and she doesn't seem to be able to form any new memories.Based on what is known about memory loss, you should conclude that Carissa's memory difficulties most clearly illustrate:
A)retrograde amnesia
B)anterograde amnesia
C)proactive amnesia
D)cryptomnesia

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Carissa's inability to form new memories after her illness is characteristic of anterograde amnesia, which is the inability to create new memories. Her ability to recall childhood memories and events before her illness suggests that she may not have retrograde amnesia, which is the loss of memories before the onset of amnesia. Proactive amnesia refers to a situation in which earlier memories interfere with the ability to form new memories, which does not seem to be the case here. Cryptomnesia involves mistakenly thinking that a new idea is original when it is actually a previously encountered idea, which is not relevant to Carissa's situation.

Carissa Recently Had Viral Encephalitis and Suffered Some Brain Damage