Human retrograde amnesia and memory consolidation.

This paper reports a reassessment of published literature on the question of whether retrograde amnesia data from patients with severe trauma supports the idea that there is ongoing consolidation of long-lasting memories. That is, memory consolidation continues for decades with older memories being increasingly consolidated, and, thus, more protected from forgetting. Our analysis was limited to patients with specific traumas rather than neurodegenerative conditions that can be complicated by the additional presence of significant anterograde amnesia.