why do people with amnesia not forget their primary language?

Question

why do people with amnesia not forget their primary language?

In: 146

Answer 1

Sometimes they do. It depends on which part of the brain was damaged. “Semantic” information about words and facts is stored in a different place than “episodic” information about particular events.

So “[semantic amnesia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_amnesia)” *is* a thing. (In fact, it’s not even a particularly uncommon thing, since it’s famously an early symptom of Alzheimer’s Disease.) If you don’t hear about it very often, it’s because it’s very closely associated with general “dementia”.