Memory is of three types:

1.immediate/sensory(encoding/registration),
2.short term/recent/working/episodic/autobiographical (consolidation)
3.long-term/remote/semantic(retrieval).
Short-term memory, also called working memory, allows for the storage of memories
for much longer than the few seconds available to sensory memory. Short-term
memory aids the constant updating of ones surroundings.
Other classification
1.explicit or declarative or relational the person is conscious that they are
remembering. and is of two types:
a. Episodic memory or memory for specific events, for example going to the shops
this morning, autobiographical memory is one type of episodic memory
Autobiographical memory refers to the memories for events and issues that relate to
oneself. These may be for specific facts, for example whetheryou are married, and
specific experiences, for example your wedding day.
b. semantic memory or memory for abstract facts such as What the capital of Chad?
2. implicit or procedural or skills memory there is no active awareness that memory
is being searched in undertaking the particular skill., the performance of tasks such as
typing, swimming or cuttinga loaf of bread are also expressions of prior learning
Studies of people with injury to the hippocampus suggest that declarative and
procedural memory use different parts of the brain and can function independently.
The hippocampus is believed to be the site where explicit () memory is stored, while
implicit () memory is thought to reside in the limbic system, the amygdala and the
cerebellum. For example, when a person with damage to the hippocampus is
repeatedly retrained in a task, although there may be a recollection of this, there is no
concomitant improvement in skills; thus they have functioning declarative memory
but damaged procedural memory
we can divide memory impairments into amnesias (loss of memory) and paramnesias
(distortions of memory).

The amnesias
partial or total inability to recall past experiences and events , may be organic or
psychogenic.

Psychogenic amnesias
Dissociative or hysterical amnesia is the sudden amnesia that occurs during periods of
extreme trauma and can last for hours or even days. The amnesia will be for personal
identity such as name, address and history as well as for personal events, while at the
same time the ability to perform complex behaviours is maintained. There is a
discrepancy between the marked memory impairment and the preservation of
personality and social skills, so that the person behaves appropriately to their
background and education.
Dissociation may be associated with a fugue or wandering state in which the subject
travels to another town or country and is often found wandering and lost. There are
descriptions of dissociative amnesia occurring in those charged with serious offences,
although in these circumstances the distinction from malingering is difficult to make.
Dissociative amnesia is believed to be more common in those with a prior history of
head injury.

Organic amnesias
Acute brain disease
In these conditions memory is poor owing to disorders of perception and attention.
Hence there is a failure to encode material in long-term memory.
acute head injury there is an amnesia, known as retrograde amnesia, that embraces
the events just before the injury. This period is usually no longer than a few minutes
but occasionally may be longer, especially in subacute conditions. Anterograde
amnesia is amnesia for events occurring after the injury. These occur most commonly
following accidents and are
indicative of failure to encode events into long-term memory.

Blackouts are circumscribed periods of anterograde amnesia experienced particularly

by those who are alcohol dependent during and following bouts of drinking. They
indicate reversible brain damage and vary in length but can span many hours. They
also occur in acute confusional states (delirium) due to infections or epilepsy.
Subacute coarse brain disease
The characteristic memory disorder is the amnestic state in which the patient is
unable to register new memories. The memory disorder is
characterised by the inability to learn new information (anterograde amnesia), and the
inability to recall previously learned material (retrograde amnesia). However,
memories from the remote past remain intact, as does recall of over learned material
from the past and immediate recall. As improvement occurs, the amnestic period may
shrink and recovery may sometimes be total. This diagnosis is not made when there
are other signs of cognitive impairment as in dementia or when consciousness is
clouded as in delirium.
Korsakoffs syndrome is the amnestic syndrome caused by thiamine deficiency, but
other causes include cerebrovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, transient global
amnesia, head injury and electroconvulsive treatment (ECT).

Distortions of memory or paramnesia

falsification of memory by distortion divided into distortions of recall and distortions of
recognition.
This can occur in normal subjects due to the process of normal forgetting or due to
proactive and retroactive interference from newly acquired material. It can occur in
those with emotional problems as well as in organic states

Distortions of recall
Retrospective falsification
the unintentional distortion of memory that occurs when it is filtered through a
persons current emotional, and cognitive state. It is often found in those with
depressive illness So a depressed person will highlight their failures while ignoring
and/or forgetting about their successes
False memory
False memory is the recollection of an event (or events) that did not occur but which
the individual subsequently strongly believes did take place . false confessions to
serious crimes, emanates from the persons own fundamental distrust of their
memory, termed source amnesia. This source amnesia arises because of difficulty
remembering the source from which the information was acquired
Screen memory
A screen memory is a recollection that is partially true and partially false , For
example, an individual may recall that childhood sexual abuse was perpetrated by a
neighbor because it is too painful to recall that the abuse was, in fact, perpetrated by
their own brother.
Confabulation
the filling-in of gaps in memory by imagined or untrue experiences ,amnestic dis
,shizo
Vorbeireden or approximate answers
Vorbeireden or approximate answers is seen in those with hysterical pseudodementia,
named after Ganser Many now believe that the Ganser syndrome is indicative of either
an organic or a psychotic state rather than hysteria as originally believed. A similar
condition of approximate answers is found in those consciously feigning illness and
this should be called malingering or factitious disorder according to the nature of the
gain.. Vorbeireden is also found in acute schizophrenia, usually the hebephrenic type.
Cryptamnesia
the experience of not remembering that one is remembering. For example a person
writes a

witty passage and does not realise that they are quoting from some passage they
have seen elsewhere There is no indication as to whether it is associated with any
specific psychiatric disorder.
Retrospective delusions
Retrospective delusions are found in some patients with psychoses who backdate their
delusions in spite of the clear evidence that the illness is of recent origin.

Distortions of recognition
Dj vu

Novel events experienced as if it was experienced in the past

jamais vous
familiar events recognized as novel
capgras delusion: pt believe that a relative to him is replaced by a double(physicaly
the same but psychologically different )schizo ,organic psychosis
fergoli :pt believe that a stranger has change their appearance to resemble familiar
one (no physical resembelance but psychologically identical)
.