What characteristic defines graded amnesia?

Graded amnesia is characterized by a pattern where individuals exhibit more significant memory loss for recent events compared to older ones. This phenomenon is often observed in cases of trauma or certain types of brain injuries, where the ability to recall recent memories is impaired while older memories remain more intact. This is thought to relate to how memories are stored and retrieved over time—theoretically, when memories are consolidated, older memories become less vulnerable to disruption, whereas newer memories are still in the process of being solidified in long-term storage.

The other potential definitions capture ideas that are either too broad or specific to certain types of amnesia but do not align with the principle of graded memory loss. For instance, severe amnesia for remote events would contradict the essence of graded amnesia, which specifically indicates that newer memories are more affected. Uniform memory impairment across the lifespan also misrepresents the characteristics, as graded amnesia distinctly varies by the time frame of the memories affected.