Which type of amnesia is characterized by a loss of ability to form new long-term memories?

Anterograde amnesia is characterized by the inability to form new long-term memories following the onset of amnesia. This condition typically arises after an event that causes brain damage, such as trauma or surgical intervention, affecting areas of the brain involved in memory consolidation, particularly the hippocampus. Individuals with anterograde amnesia can often recall events and information learned prior to the event causing the amnesia but struggle significantly with new experiences or information, finding it difficult to transfer those to long-term memory.

In contrast, retrograde amnesia involves the loss of memories that were formed before a specific incident, meaning individuals may lose access to previously stored information but can still form new memories after the event. Transient global amnesia is a temporary episode of memory loss that cannot be attributed to neurological conditions, while emotional amnesia refers to the inability to remember due to emotional factors. Each of these conditions has different mechanisms and effects on memory function, but anterograde amnesia specifically highlights the impaired ability to create new long-term memories.