Lacunar amnesia is the loss of memory

Memory

In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....

 about one specific event. It is a type of amnesia

Amnesia

Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...

 that leaves a lacuna (a gap) in the record of memory.

According to Steven Johnson

Steven Berlin Johnson

Steven Berlin Johnson is an American popular science author.-Education:Steven Johnson attended the prestigious St. Albans School as a youth. He completed his undergraduate degree at Brown University, where he studied semiotics, a part of Brown's modern culture and media department...

, (the author of Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life):

Furthermore, according to Alex Chadwick speaking on NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

:

Daniel Goleman

Daniel Goleman

Daniel Jay Goleman is an author, psychologist, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for The New York Times, specializing in psychology and brain sciences. He is the author of more than 10 books on psychology, education, science, and leadership.-Life:Goleman was born in Stockton,...

, in his book Vital Lies, Simple Truths, defines a lacuna as :

Popular culture

This type of amnesia is used as a plot element in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American romantic science fiction film about an estranged couple who have each other erased from their memories, scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by the French director, Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction, psychological...

, in which a company (appropriately named Lacuna) offers the service of having a specific person erased from someone's memories by removing all memories of them.

Similarly, in the manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket

, sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro...

, the character Hatori Sohma has the ability to erase a persons memories. This ability is used by the head of the family, Akito, who instructed Hatori to use it when people outside the family discovered their secret. He also had to use the ability to make his fiance, Kana, forget about him because he'd caused her too much pain.

In the movie Heroes The protagonist Jack Dunne (Henry Winkler

Henry Winkler

Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...

) learns a horrible truth about a friend of his about which he had known, but has forgotten.