A cognitive approach to experimental amnesia.

A review of selected experiments indicates that not all examples of experimental amnesia are due to the failure of a memory to fixate. Briefly, the argument is that the fixation of a memory occurs within a very short time and that its retrieval is aided if it is coded into a contextual memory system. An amnesic agent serves to block (inhibit) memories rather than disrupt them and has its effects on active memories, whatever their age. In sum, the empirical retrograde amnesia gradient does not necessarily support traditional consolidation theory.