Key criteria: This assignment assesses your ability to critically evaluate the evidence for dissociation of the two constructs. Use the book chapters, review articles and journal articles to support your arguments (plus further reading for higher marks). However, you MUST provide an analysis and evaluation based on these papers.

Failure to critically evaluate may result in you writing a general essay on amnesic syndrome, which is not in line with the marking criteria.

Supplement your work with further reading beyond those papers provided in the coursework document.

Guidelines for Essay Structure

Introduction

Provide a general discussion of Amnesic Syndrome and its characteristics. This does not require too much detail, as the bulk of the introduction should specifically discuss amnesia affecting episodic and semantic memory. An understanding assembled from the research literature will allow you to judge whether or not neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence supports these definitions.

Evaluation of evidence: Episodic memory

Review studies that have (and possibly have not) demonstrated evidence of episodic memory as separable from semantic memory (dissociation). Ensure you include evidence from neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies.

Evaluation of evidence: Semantic memory

Review studies that have (and possibly have not) demonstrated evidence of semantic memory as separable from episodic memory (dissociation). Ensure you include evidence from neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies.

Critical evaluation of separation

Provide a critical evaluation of the evidence. Dissociation should be discussed at this point. This is an opportunity to criticize or comment on the investigations.

Summary of evidence

Bring together your review of the evidence in summary form before moving to the next section….

Concluding argument

Can anything be said about amnesic syndrome in general, as well as semantic and episodic memory specifically? How else could you assess patients to support your inferences?