Diseases of Memory

Théodule-Armand Ribot's Diseases of Memory (1881) was a pioneering work that analyzed memory loss as a symptom of progressive brain disease. Ribot proposed that memory destruction follows a logical order, moving from the unstable to the stable, meaning recent recollections are lost before older, more ingrained ones. This concept, known as Ribot's "law" of regression, suggested that memory loss reflects a breakdown from the most complex to the simplest forms of neural organization.12

While influential, Ribot's law has exceptions, particularly in cases of retrograde amnesia. Later work by Sergey Korsakov identified amnesia not always linked to dementia, and Pierre Janet explored amnesia related to psychological factors like dissociation.2