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How Does Leonard Suffer From Anterograde Amnesia

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Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is a type of severe memory impairment that does not give the ability to form new memories, beginning with the onset of a disorder (Kalat, 1998). Anterograde amnesia is a result of brain damage to the hippocampus. In the film Leonard and Sammy have damage to their hippocampus, a part of the brain that is heavily involved in learning and memory (Kalat, 1998). The hippocampus is where new information must pass before being permanently stored in memory. If the hippocampus is damaged, no new information can enter memory, but older information that have already passed through prior to the damage may be safe (Myers, 2006). This fact is clearly depicted in the movie as Leonard forgets people and his conversations with them or when he is doing something and forgets halfway through why he is doing it. This damage to the hippocampus can arise from strokes, brain aneurysms, epilepsy, blows to the head, and various other …show more content…

At the time the physician removed parts of his hippocampus as a way to stop his seizures. HM seizures went away, but he could not form any new memories. However, one form of memory left intact in both HM and Leonard is the ability to learn skills. This ability is known as procedural memory, a memory that is shown by performance rather than by conscious recollection (Kalat, 1998), it allows us to learn how to do things such as ride a bike or play an instrument. The areas of the brain outside of the hippocampus are involved in procedural memory, which is why an injury that results in anterograde amnesia doesn't affect procedural memory. In the movie, Sammy undergoes a shock test several times, in which he receives a small electrical shock when he picks up a certain object. In the film, Sammy again and again picks up the electrified block and is not responding to classical

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His parents are horrified and call the police. Leonard is transported to the mental hospital. He’s told he might be psychotic, but he doesn’t believe he is, because he would know if he’s crazy or not. It’s pointed out that no psychotic patient thinks they are. He’s startled to learn that he might be schizophrenic.

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He also does not remember anything from the day of January 13, 1999. Is he purposely not remembering anything or did nothing really significant happen that day for him trigger his memory? But, his ex-girlfriend was killed that day. That day should stick out like a sore thumb in his head. Where he was when he got the phone call, what he did after school, and who he hung out with.

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Clive Wearing was a prolific British musical conductor and producer for BBC. He was a wildly intelligent and successful person. It came as a surprise to himself and his family when unexpectedly suffered a loss of consciousness. The type of memory loss that Clive Wearing has is retrograde and anterograde amnesia. He is unable to retain new memories; he is also unable to unearth past memories to his consciousness as well.

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Christopher McCandless or Alexander Supertramp should be admired for his courage and noble idea to drop everything and go into the wild, with nothing but a backpack and in it was a book of Tolstoy, a book about native plants and berries, a .22 rifle with 400 rounds of ammunition, a writing implement, a journal, a camera, a 10 pound bag of rice, a small cooking utensil, matches, a knife, and some fishing twine and a hook, and the few clothes he had on his back. Chris was trying to find himself by leaving everything behind, yes Chris might have been a little reckless,but you have to be a little reckless to go into the wild and hitchhike around the world. This quote support that 's Chris was just living and trying to find himself was, “... McCandless pitched his tent in the puny shade of a tamarick and basked in his newfound freedom. (Krakauer 27)” this is saying that McCandless was happy to finally be by himself and start life in the

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It is evident throughout the movie that Leonard does not experience any difficulties when it comes to remembering his past. When he, repeatedly, introduces himself as “Leonard Shelby from San Francisco”, it shows that he remembers the past clearly. His past identity is all he remembers and Teddy clarifies this, only for him to forget it moments later, by stating “That’s who you were, not who you’ve

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The hippocampus is responsible for transferring short term memory to long term memory. It is one of the few parts of the

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I lost something there. Like a path I was walking that dead-ended, and now I am alone and lost in the forest, and I am here and I do not know where here is anymore.” (Gaiman, 2013). As mentioned in the story, the man is unable to remember many of the words and names that he has learned over time, but he has not forgotten concepts, he just has to describe them to himself in order to remember and we can sense his growing frustration in doing so. I saw the same thing happen with my grandfather, I knew his memory was still there, but it was just so hard for him to recall it easily and it was heartbreaking to

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Moreover, “a behavioural syndrome results showing not only semantic-memory impairment but also particular difficulty remembering past events as personal happenings” (Tulving, 1989). Lastly, in Endel Tulving’s conclusion to his article he states “traditionally held views about the unity of memory are no longer tenable. A more appropriate view seems to be that of multiple memory systems. Remembering one’s past is a different, perhaps more advanced, achievement of the brain than simply knowing about it” ( Tulving,

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Functional or psychogenic amnesia is caused by an emotional shock such as being the victim of a brutal crime, sexual abuse and child abuse. Fundamentally, any unbearable life event that causes extreme psychological stress and internal dispute could be the cause of functional or psychogenic

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This is what other researchers have thought of too, and therefore a conclusion was made that additional processes have been taking place as well. Another strength is that there is neuropsychological evidence for this model as a patient, HM (Milner, 1966) underwent surgery which impaired his hippocampus and in turn affected his long-term memory as it no longer functioned properly, whereas his short-term memory was rather functional. Due to this we can conclude that these two processes are involved in the process of memory, as one of the stores was affected when the brain was damaged but the other was not (Baddeley, 2009).

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