Defined by WHEN memories were formed
Amnesia is memory loss from brain injury, illness or trauma; the distinction is which side of the injury the lost memories sit on. Retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall memories formed before the injury (retro = backwards). Anterograde amnesia is the inability to form new long-term memories after it (antero = forwards). The two often occur together but are still two conditions. A definition must say which memories, not just "lost their memory".
Retrograde symptoms: the past is gone
Symptoms of retrograde amnesia: cannot recall events from before the injury and cannot recognise people or places known before it. The most recent past is worst affected while childhood often survives, and where memory returns the oldest returns first. Skills and language survive — walking, speaking, playing an instrument — because memory for how to do something is not what is lost. New learning still works, and the person is often confused by the gap in their life story.
Anterograde symptoms: nothing new sticks
Symptoms of anterograde amnesia, whose give-away is repetition: the same question is asked again and again, as there is no record it happened. Events that just happened are forgotten within minutes, and new names, faces and routes cannot be learned. Short-term memory still works briefly — a number can be repeated back — but never reaches long-term memory. Memories from before the injury are intact, and new skills can sometimes still be learned despite no memory of practising.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Do not define a term with itself
Defining retrograde or anterograde amnesia with the word itself — "retrograde amnesia is when someone has retrograde amnesia" — says nothing and scores zero. A definition must add which memories and when: retrograde is the inability to recall memories formed before the injury; anterograde the inability to form new ones after it.
Tautological definitions were penalised on a Topic 2.1 memory term (Nov 2020 P1 Q6, retrieval defined using "retrieve"); defining a term where a feature was asked is at June 2023 P1 Q6.
Two definitions is not a difference
A "describe the difference" question here is often answered as two separate definitions and stopped — an implicit difference worth one mark. The second comes from a connective such as whereas: "retrograde is loss of memories from before the injury, whereas anterograde cannot form new ones after it." A 2-mark describe needs two unique points.
Two separate definitions where a difference was asked score one mark, connectives such as "whereas" earning the second (June 2019 P1 Q6; June 2022 P1 Q7, Q22); a 2-mark describe needs two unique points (June 2023 P2 Q22).
Naming the condition is not application
Amnesia questions are set on a person. The reported failure is the label only, "this is anterograde amnesia", without showing how the detail proves it. Application quotes the person's own behaviour and names the symptom: "he asks the nurse her name every visit" shows he cannot form new long-term memories. Naming the person or repeating the stem earns nothing.
Generic responses on a scenario question earn no credit (June 2019 P1 Summary); the name alone is not enough (June 2022 P1 Q4b; June 2023 P2 Q25) and repeating the stem is not application (June 2024 P2 Q10).
Retrograde is before, anterograde after
The two terms are often reversed. The direction words fix them: retro means backwards, so retrograde is memories from before the injury; antero means forwards, so anterograde is new memories after it. Picture one arrow pointing back and one forward from the moment of injury — if you can draw it, you cannot swap them.
Anterograde: transfer fails, not STM
A common slip is thinking anterograde amnesia means the short-term store is broken. It usually is not — the person can repeat a phone number straight back. What fails is the transfer of new information into long-term memory, which is why the number disappears the moment attention moves. Locate the fault in the transfer, not the short-term store.
Amnesia is not ordinary forgetting
Amnesia is memory loss caused by brain injury, illness or psychological trauma — not the everyday failure to recall a name with no damage behind it. A scenario describing ordinary forgetting, tiredness or distraction is not amnesia, and calling it so misreads the term. Reserve retrograde and anterograde for losses tied to an injury or illness.
Amnesia is not total loss or sudden recovery
Films show amnesia as a total blank with sudden full recovery, wrong three ways. It is not total: skills, language and personality survive, so "they forget everything" is inaccurate. Losing your identity is not the standard symptom — the usual picture is gaps in the past, worst nearest the injury. Recovery is not a switch: retrograde memory returns gradually, oldest first.
One type only, or both — check the evidence
Do not force a person into one box. The two types often occur together — one injury can wipe memories from before it and block new ones after; if a scenario shows both, give evidence for each. Pure cases exist too: retrograde only, or anterograde only. Their separateness suggests new-memory formation and old-memory retrieval are different processes — useful AO3.
Evaluate amnesia: name and justify a lens
Amnesia evidence comes mostly from single injured people, so name a lens and justify it: generalisability (every injury differs), validity (pre-injury memory is rarely known), reliability (cannot be repeated). For the 7-9 band, give two opposed points and a conclusion.
Quote the behaviour, name the symptom
Apply by quoting the behaviour and naming the symptom — "asks the nurse her name every visit" means no new long-term memory forms, so anterograde. AO3 cannot be awarded without AO2, so a label-only answer forfeits the evaluation marks too — apply first.
State a symptom, and justify it
Match the command word. Asked to state one symptom, give a symptom, not a definition of the term. On strength or weakness items, identification is not enough — name the point and justify it with a reason.
Amnesia is a loss of memory caused by brain injury, illness or psychological trauma. The specification names two types, and the whole difference is about which side of the injury the affected memories sit on.
Retrograde amnesia — the inability to recall memories that were formed before the brain injury or illness. Retro means backwards.
Anterograde amnesia — the inability to form new long-term memories after the brain injury or illness. Antero means forwards.
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