Initial Findings - Autobiographical Amnesia
People with TEA often notice a patchy but persistent loss of memories of events from their past lives. This difficulty in retrieving memories of significant events, such as weddings and holidays, is a form of "autobiographical amnesia".
The TIME study has found that autobiographical memory is affected for up to 40 years. This memory loss can occur in people whose ability to acquire new memories is intact.
Autobiographical amnesia may be caused by repeated seizures in the temporal lobe resulting in the progressive "erasure" of memories. Alternatively, autobiographical memory loss may result from subtle changes in the temporal lobe which gives rise to temporal lobe epilepsy and to memory problems. As with ALF, it is unlikely that antiepileptic drugs or problems with mood cause autobiographical memory loss in people with TEA.