Which memory refers to the ability to form long-term memories after brain injury?

• A. Retrograde memory
• B. Semantic memory
• C. Working memory
• D. Anterograde memory

Answer: (D)

The ability to form new long-term memories after a brain injury is described by anterograde memory. This term specifically refers to encoding and storing new information after the injury, so when someone can still form new long-term memories, their anterograde memory is intact.

In contrast, retrograde memory concerns recall of events that happened before the injury, not the creation of new memories. Working memory handles holding and manipulating information over short periods, not long-term encoding. Semantic memory is long-term knowledge of facts, which isn’t about the new-memory formation process after injury. The hippocampus and related encoding networks are key for forming new memories, so damage there typically affects anterograde memory, leading to anterograde amnesia.