5/5/2008 - What causes it? (Amnesia)

 Brain imaging studies have shown developmental amnesia is linked to damage to the hippocampus, a structure in the brain that's known to be closely involved in long-term memory. It has been suggested the hippocampus is especially important to the memory of single events - so-called episodic memory.

  In children with developmental amnesia, the hippocampus shows a loss in volume of 40 to 60 per cent on each side of the brain. There may be no obvious abnormalities in surrounding brain regions that are also important to long-term memory.

There's good reason to believe this type of brain damage can occur as a result of loss of oxygen to the brain. This could be caused by extreme prematurity or a difficult birth, long epileptic seizures or temporary arrest of the heartbeat.

This region of the brain is particularly vulnerable to loss of oxygen and is damaged permanently.