Consciousness episodic memory

Tryptophan depletion in healthy volunteers impairs the retrieval of learnt material (Park et al., 1994), an effect probably mediated through a selective impairment of episodic memory consolidation (Riedel et al., 1999 Schmitt et al., 2000). However, tryptophan depletion appears to have no effect on working memory (Riedel et al., 1999) and either no effect or an enhancement of tests of executive function (Park et al., 1994 Schmitt et al., 2000). Thus the abnormality in episodic memory in mood disorders could conceivably be related to an impairment in the 5-HT system, but such an impairment is unlikely to account for the abnormalities in working memory and executive function. Clearly then, changes in consciousness occurring in affective disorders are unlikely to be explainable on the basis of an abnormality in a single neurochemical system. 

Episodic memory is the conscious recollection or remembering of specific experiences from a person s life. These memories often include the time and place of the experience, as well as a representation of the role the individual remembering played in it. An example of an episodic memory would be recalling the first time you operated a computer, including where and with whom, in contrast to how to operate a computer. Episodic memories seem to be more affected by the passage of time than are procedural or semantic memories such that if the... 

Episodic memory—Memory system holding conscious recollections of events from a person s life that often include time, place, and a representation... 

Hallucinations are usually visual and may be vivid in content however, memory of the episodes may be incomplete or fragmentary. Differentiation of this group of seizures from schizophrenia is based on presence of clouding of consciousness and their brief and episodic nature, with partial amnesia for the episodes... 

Partial seizures with an alteration of consciousness are described as complex partial. With complex partial seizures, the patient may have automatisms, periods of memory loss, or aberrations of behavior. Some patients with complex partial epilepsy have been mistakenly diagnosed as having psychotic episodes. Complex partial seizures also may progress to GTC seizures. Patients with complex partial seizures typically are amnestic to these events. 

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