Clive Wearing, Part 2d: Living Without Memory

[WizardOfHumor1989]

If there was a film about Clive Wearing, Hugh Grant should portray the amnesic afflicted man.

[iloveanime0018]

This makes me want to cry a little :( I don't know how she does it. My grandma has alzhiemers and she doesn't even recognize it anymore, but hearing about him and seeing that he has some sense of what's happening would be so terrible. Especially the 'please come darling' and the prison analogy she made earlier really got to me. It's like he's trapped. It's just so sad.

[Aeig]

His wife is eternally understanding.. Beautifully amazing.

[TED6667]

Does his wife not realize that she uses 500 words to say the same thing over and over and over? Surely by now someone would have told her about her illness.

[saluteforever]

that's why some some healhy people are naugthy!!

[multimann2]

Very touching documentary... However, it's really strange how brain differentiate between experiences and memories.

[ijunkie]

The memories that she claims he is able to develop are procedural memories. Those are developed in the cerebellum which did not incur damage. This is why he is able to learn the locations of the necessary items to make tea but couldn't outright tell you, as he doesn't have a conscious memory of it.

[ThorsteinnK]

I can only say that his wife is one hell of an extraordinary woman. Having the same repeated conversation with someone for 7-8 years must make most people go nuts. Extremely tiresome it must be... Always having to answer the same questions. I found this documentary really interesting.

[TearsoftheSoul26]

Apparently she actually divorced him for some time after the illness, she left and then came back and remarried him (obviously he had no memory of a divorce or marriage) but she did it for her because she knew she truly loved him. so yes she is truly amazin but she wasn't like that right off the bat, at first she got scared away

[Symbiotel]

I've watched many many videos recently about this man. I just recently heard about him....But the one thing I don't understand is this...If he forgets so quickly, why in ANY video of him, doesn't he say one thing about why there are cameras recording him, or why are they in the room, or just ANYTHING about them? I tried putting myself in his shoes, and thought that if I would notice them before I noticed anything else...I'd be asking "Why the hell are there cameras and cameramen here"...Right?

[levlongman]

You do have a point, but maybe he just noticed his wife who he thinks he's never seen before first.

[Medralx]

@Symbiotel I think it may be possible that it is now normal for him. Somewhere he has become used to cameras being around so often that he no longer gets worked up about them. Though when watching a previous video from late 80s, early 90s, he looked very disgruntled and temperamental about... well, everything.

[akechi77]

In people with total anterograde amnesia, it's like 'waking up' in a sense everytime his memory span runs out because he'll have no recollection at all of anything that happened before his ST span runs out. In other clips he says it's like death, everything is the same, the only thing i can compare it to is waking up from a coma. Nothing exists at all, complete void and then suddenly you're born, only your a full grown man. You can think that there was something before but theres no way to know.

[HelpFindTheMissing]

This is amazing. I had read an article about Clive, but it is really interesting to see him on video. Although he has lost many memories, I wish there were some way to repair the hippocampus so that he could form new memories.

[croyo]

I hope someday that may happen.

[DLPBurke]

not possible, and on slight chance that there is, centuries way from that tech.

Not to mention a lot of his memories are now gone completely

[lou545]

this is so intresting, i really feel for him and his family. it must be so hard to live with.

[hugorular]

what a remarkable man,

[Terrakinetic]

I hope they find a cure in his lifetime.

[DLPBurke]

There is no cure. Part of his brain is missing. And even if it were possible to mend without killing him we are literally centuries away from anything near to that in neuroscience.

[whoseddit]

He'll never be able to remember what he has lost. On the upside, Clive is happy as he is. If you dont quiz him he doesn't notice how much he is unable to recall, and isn't upset by no recalling. There may be a treatment, though. At some point we may be able to stimulate brain tissue to regenerate or grow new neurons. Most people will probably use the tech to do something pointless though.

[DLPBurke]

there is no cure! it is brain damage. brain structure is wrecked

[Terrakinetic]

You said that 8 months ago.

[DLPBurke]

maybe i turned into clive wearing?

I know i said it, but seems i gotta repeat it haha

Well spotted

[MrFlimsy]

Thanks for posting the video. I agree with what most of these comments say: the Clive Wearing story is a fascinating one.

[damanwidtheplan]

you could slap him and 30 seconds later be wondering why his face is sore lol

[whoseddit]

Which is why we aren't letting him near you, idiot.

[whoseddit]

er..I was replying

"damanwitheplan" when i said idiot.

[gredangeo]

"you could slap him and 30 seconds later be wondering why his face is sore lol"

Dude, that's so mean and wrong...but it is funny though when you think about it. I wonder if she messes with him just for fun when she's bored? lol!

[manifest]

Wow his wife is awesome. Not to mention she put up with 7 years of the same conversation...wow. Its amazing also how Clive is "learning" all these things. very very interesting.

[papatoony]

I wonder how he ever sleeps since he's always under the impression that he's just woken up.

[whoseddit]

I think it's meant as a description and he knows he hasn't been asleep. He's saying he just became aware, but there's no phrase for that like "I just awared up". He asks how long it has been since he fell ill not "how long have I been asleep?" It's his conscious awareness ( of more than a minute) that has gone. He doesn't ask how long he's been ill anymore - his subconcious mind does know time has passed. We are not conscious when we dream so his mind might understand a sleep state more easily.

[dalpaugh]

So true. None of us really know why we do what we do. We think we know, but we're just telling stories to ourselves all day every day.

[shadowhawk22]

These videos are so fascinating. It really makes you think what makes us conscious, and how our memory works. It really shows us how little we know of our brains and our minds.

[Whatsifsowhatsit]

Well, we actually know a whole lot... the thing is there's just SO much more still to be learned that it seems like a tiny bit. So well, by comparison, it would be.