Clive Wearing, Part 2b: Living Without Memory

[RoathRipper]

he answered her questions more or less correctly. I wonder, could he be 'faking it'?

[numberfifty2007]

he just remembered what death is also

[ShaylaScissorhands]

@numberfifty2007 he obviously remembers that kind of concepts, if he didn't he wouldn't be able to talk at all as he wouldn't remember what the words are or mean

[BUKOPIE78]

kudos to the wife...

[JayBird4theW1N]

It actually hurts in my heart to watch him suffer, so upset with his inability to remember. You would think that since he can't remember, he would be blissfully unaware, but that is obviously not the case.

[JayBird4theW1N]

That guy has an AMAZING voice... he would make a GREAT voice actor... if he could remember his lines.

[MegaUnfunny]

if you see the newest documentary about this guy, you can see he's got worse, he can't hold a conversation or give answers as long as he does at the beginning of this. It's sad:/

[kaykanysha]

@MegaUnfunny where can I find the newest documentary?

[MegaUnfunny]

@kaykanysha here's a more recent thing about him:) watch?v=WmzU47i2xgw&feature=re­lated

[Soothfish]

How does he remember what a dream is?

[scrubs21]

@Soothfish because his semantic memory is fully intact, he can still understand concepts which he learnt prior to the hippocampul damage. but he just cant consolidate short term memories into long term, which explains why he can't remember dream content.

[Tikwichka]

There are many memory systems, not just one or two. Clive can speak, walk, eat etc. because that memory system (procedural) is intact or relatively unimpaired. Episodic memory, on the other hand, is memory specific to an event, such as what you did on your last birthday. This system is impaired.

Hope this clarifies a few things.

[pvtv3ga]

@Tikwichka Wow, an actual intelligent person in the comments. Thank you.

[klubnika77777]

Then how is remember words, how to make sentenses. He has learned to speak when he was young, then WHY he remember words and have that big vocabulary. He doesn't have to remember how to speak.... Why is that?????????

[vaudreyt]

@klubnika77777 it's to do with the difference between Long-term memory and Short-term memory being two seperate systems. His Long term memory seems to be kept in tact, but he seems to have lost be ability to store anything from his now very limited (7-30 seconds) Short term memory into his long term memory. So he can remember how to speak because it's not new information.

[imcharleshicks]

@klubnika77777 The language area of the brain (posterior inferior frontal gyrus) is different to the long-term, short-term and working memory areas (hippocampus, pre frontal cortex, parital lobe etc). Different area of the brain are used for these functions.

[neonaction]

but he clearly still remembers something, like the idea of dream, his wife,

[rockylegend1234]

this guy has a serious case of brain freeze

[YubiShines]

Here's one thing I'm curious about and that's never going to be known because he won't remember: What does he dream about?

[kaykentucky]

actually is quite cool, cos it shows that he can appreciate every second of his life

[enjoixander]

How many neurolizers are there? How many practicing hypnotists and computer generated hypnotic programs are being applied through your nations electronic media (television, radio, internet and telephone)? Now, is your nation's leadership under control so that they are convincingly unaware that this is possible or are they just conveniently profitting from it? I am not speaking about natural memory losses.

[berrylover]

poor man

[rzaman17]

THOSE are kept in the hippocampus of the brain that was effected. So those general memories are slowly disappearing like his wife describes before the computer images.

Just fyi for those of you that were arguing about it.

[rzaman17]

he can do the things like speak and tie shoes and eat and play piano because those are procedural memories stored in the cerebellum that was not infected by the illness. Therefore those are subconscious memories that have not been effected. The Semantic and episodic memories which are factual and conceptual about the world and general knowledge and memory tied to personal experiences and emotion (respectively) are what have been impaired because

[Wolverine51324]

He remembered to associate the outside world with springtime, interesting

[QuantumSelf13]

"it was a waste of time". Taking such a boring test, would be for each of us a waste of time too.

[keenandwhat009]

God does his wife have to sit like that on camera, it's a good job shes got tights on or you'd see her ars. It kind'a says something about his wife. Manners please.

[kissyoualloverxo]

he has short term memory where he forgets things in 30 seconds or less, all his lonf term memory is still there so he remembers the past and people in his past

[Landersson1]

you're wrong. he doesnt have a long term memory. if he had a long term memory he would for example remeber being married to deborah, being a church musician.

[keenandwhat009]

NO your wrong, he doesn't have a short term memory, but remembers things before his illness, but not after.

[dennisjabo]

He does not remember anything, not before or after the illness.

He knows how to play Piano because of the same reason he knows how to speak, write, eat or to button his shirt. Those things are not stored in the brain as memories. But everything related to memory, how he spend his life or what year it is, is gone.

[O8SERVER]

No he doesn't remember the past. He remembers subconsciously how to speak, write, play the piano, walk, etc. but every person he meets is like he's seen them for the first time, except for his wife.

[420blazejuggalo]

how can he still do alot of things like talk, eat, etc., and why doesnt he get scared shitless waking up to not knowing anything about anything? this must be hell

[holm79]

He got his sense of humor left

93000 years old lol, he might cant remember but he can make a joke.

[aidanne07]

Your sick in the head. What are you thinking. Are you stupid or something, people are not like YOU.

[TheoMollerisCool]

this is pretty close to what happens to me when i take acid.

[aidanne07]

Oh! an't you clever?

[crazytimeteddy]

no, i'm serious, it's pretty close. obviously no where nears as complete or intense, but i forget who i am and i cant keep any one thought in my head and it feels like i imagine being dead feels like

[AmyK007]

I'd want a shot gun if that happened to me. He's so courageous.

[Desu666]

you wouldn't know you'd want a shotgun cause you'd forget. :P

I think such a case is very scary, because your memories is what makes you the person you are... And you can clearly see that Clive has identity issues when he writes "I am alive" in his notebooks and so forth.

[philipdarby5]

of the film memento, what i always wondered was how he remembered that he had such a condition?

[aidanne07]

Because as he says ' his mind is blank no dreams, no memory. So he not stupid, he know's he's not well, he just woke- up.

[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?

[bensparasite]

he probably did it a few times during the filming, but it's simple to just cut that out.

[Trunecki]

Indeed, but don't forget (honestly no pun intended), that if his full memory was in the 1980s, he would have no knowledge of modern technology of new cameras so it might not bother him much.

[aidanne07]

There not showing everything, why can't you believe something thats right there in your face and feel sorry for him, not put him down. Your just a hater!

What a way to live, after having a great life, working for the Bbc, to having to live like this. i feel so sorry for the family, his two son's also. So sad to watch.

[clerlic]

It's even less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol, according to all credible sources, but it still has this dangerous "aura" around it. People think just touching LSD will make you an insane murderer rapist clown or something.

It's because of that it is highly unlikely that they've tried LSD, or ever will.

BTW, what's a D.A.R.E teacher?

[RoboCowDung]

lul, pot is lik teh same thang as meth rite?

Just kidding, that was a joke.

[clerlic]

I doubt they've tried LSD, since it's illegal and considered as dangerous as heroin and all. I know that I'd want myself to try it if I was ever in that state. However, seeing as he constantly "wakes up", waking up in the middle of an LSD trip might be a frightening experience. Or not, who knows?

[stillalive2007]

His memory loss is due to the atrophy of an area of the brain associated with the consolidation of memories (the hippocampus). So my guess is LSD would not change the fact that he can't recall things that occurred over 30 seconds ago, although he would still probably trip.

[FinnHawk]

does he recognize pictures of his parents or siblings or other relatives other than his wife?

[JoshIsNumber3]

No.

[mafino]

It must be very tough on the wife, for her to go through the routine of 'seeing him for the first time' every day for countless amounts of times.

[clerlic]

He should try some LSD, since it connects consciousness to subconsciousness.

[qlet]

hmm thats actually an interesting comment.

[dougiesy]

I know what this is. It is not illness.  It is what life is. Living in the moment means really living in the moment without memories of the past which is dead and gone anyway

[iluvnapoleon2]

I agree partly with your comment.

However, this man does have an illness. It's a terrible existence that I'm sure I would never want to be caught in.

The past is continually shaping the future.

[Repelsteeltje444]

I do not agree, although there is a non-pathological, conceptual congruence between certain possibilities of conscious awereness and focussed attention and this mans condition, this is illness; he has no dynamics to return to a more '' everyday '' state to live his life normally ! While we obviously have.

[ImALLIn9989]

this is weird.. is it true!!!! come on!!! he knows what wheather constituite march how would he know!!!!  i find it too hard to believe

[Whatsifsowhatsit]

It's true. It can be hard to understand for some people, but things like what weather constitutes March, this is a sort of "common knowledge" that is stored in the semantic memory, a specific part of brain function. These sort of things that are pretty much common sense are stored there, as well as things like the taste of an apple or who's the queen of England - even though that sort of things, as mentioned in the video, Clive does not so much recall.

[Terrakinetic]

Just watching him makes me want to die. If I ever end up like him, I hope I still have enough sense to kill myself.

[lljames2]

What a lovely man. So polite, caring and thoughtful of others feelings besides his own and talented. What a horrible state this man is in and he clearly does know he has no memories when confronted about it, but then forgets he is frustrated if you change the subject.

[lesack]

hope the writer of memento credited clive's story

[papatoony]

This is distubing...makes me almost have a panic attack when I imagine what it would be like to live like that.

[frenchie27]

wow, amazing.

[queenie0106]

its amazing that he consciously is unaware of where he is and what his exitence is...but yet he subconsciously he remembers his wife and his music

[xeniak]

but amazing that he realizes that there is something wrong.

[yellowman88]

really sad