Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Amnesia 
Name: Bill
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
Question from thirteen year old student: If language is a learned behaviour, how come people who experience amnesia don't forget how to talk?


Replies:
Amnesia is not total -- you do not forget everything. Indeed, it is typical to forget the most recent of events, while memory of long-ago events is unimpaired.

I doubt, additionally, that language ability is as closely linked to general memory as the question implies. None of us remembers any event from the age at which we learned to talk and learned our basic vocabulary, and it is possible by cerebrovascular accident to utterly lose the ability to talk without losing any of one's memory.

Dr. C Grayce


Click here to return to the Biology Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory