Final answer:
Procedural memory is typically preserved in patients with amnestic disorders, meaning they can still recall how to perform tasks and skills despite difficulties forming new episodic and semantic memories.
Step-by-step explanation:
When dealing with amnestic disorders, such as anterograde amnesia, there is a significant disruption in the ability to form new episodic and semantic memories due to damage to the hippocampus. However, procedural memory, which is responsible for the recall of how to perform tasks and skills, often remains intact. Notable evidence from patient H.M. indicates that while suffering from anterograde amnesia, he could not recall reading the same magazine or meeting people after his surgery, yet his ability to solve a puzzle improved over time due to procedural memory being unaffected by his condition.
Therefore, when it is mentioned that procedural memory is often intact in patients with amnestic disorder, it means that their ability to remember how to perform certain skills or tasks is largely unaffected by the condition that impairs their episodic or semantic memory. This distinction further suggests that different areas of the brain are responsible for different types of memory functions.