Neuropsychological evidence for multiple memory systems.

Neuropsychological data provide strong support for the existence of multiple memory systems. The distinction between short-term memory and long-term memory has been discussed in the experimental literature for some years. More recently it has been argued that the concept of long-term memory is misleading in that it fails to differentiate between semantic memory and episodic/event memory. The independent and selective impairment of multiple memory systems, each with its own functional and structural properties, has been recorded in patients with cerebral lesions and the evidence for impairment of such systems is reviewed. It is argued that the cerebral organization of short-term memory, long-term (non-individual) semantic memory and long-term (individual) event memory is highly differentiated.