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The Unforgettable Amnesiac

Posted by kdawson on from the every-20-seconds-a-new-day dept.

jamie found an account in the NYTimes of the life and death of one of the most important figures in modern neuroscience, Henry Gustav Molaison — a man who could not form memories. Molaison became an amnesiac after a brain operation in 1953. Known worldwide as H.M., Molaison was studied intensively for 55 years. Dr. Brenda Milner, a psychologist from Montreal, was the first researcher to visit Molaison. In 1962 she authored a landmark study demonstrating that a part of Molaison's memory was fully intact. "The implications were enormous. Scientists saw that there were at least two systems in the brain for creating new memories. One, known as declarative memory, records names, faces and new experiences and stores them until they are consciously retrieved. ... Another system, commonly known as motor learning, is subconscious and depends on other brain systems. This explains why people can jump on a bike after years away from one and take the thing for a ride, or why they can pick up a guitar that they have not played in years and still remember how to strum it. Soon 'everyone wanted an amnesic to study,' Dr. Milner said..."

6 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting case by NinthAgendaDotCom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I can't remember if it was this case or another, but in a cognitive psych class I had, we watched a video about a man who couldn't form new long-term memories. His own wife would walk into a room once, then a second time a few minutes later, and he'd greet her as if he hadn't seen her in years. The most disturbing part was the notebooks he kept. He would write, "Now I'm awake!" And "Now I'm *really* awake." He kept being on the verge of being able to remember his situation, but then losing it.

    --
    -- http://ninthagenda.com/
    1. Re:Interesting case by TACD · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're thinking of Clive Wearing - pretty much the most severe case of amnesia ever recorded. His wife has written a book about her experiences in dealing with it. It's really quite an interesting insight into the way memory functions; for example, he will still hoot with glee whenever his wife enters the room, believing he has not seen her in years. However, even though his illness happened over 30 years ago and his wife has of course visibly aged, he's not surprised by her current appearance.

      --
      Security through promiscuity is no better than security through obscurity.
  2. Offered his brain for further scientific study by haus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am sure that this man's misfortune has provided the rest of us a great opportunity to benefit form the research that has been performed on him to date, and possible further gains with his brian now (or soon to be) directly accessible to scientific research.

    But I do wonder how a man who was unable to create new memories (or at least had great difficulty in this area) would be able to take in what is going on around him and give informed consent to offer his brain for further study after his passing.

    1. Re:Offered his brain for further scientific study by haus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This may well be, but the NPR piece on this seem to make a big point about HM himself wanting his brain to be available for further research.

      In my mind this would seem to imply that he had an understanding that he was an unusual case. The story seemed to imply that with great effort he was able to remember items beyond the 30 seconds of short term memory, but given the complexities of this case I wonder how much he himself understood of it as his life drew to a close.

  3. Re:What was I going to post? by buswolley · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Here is another:

    A scientist would tape a tack onto his palm. Then he would walk into the room with H.M. He would first ask him, "Have you ever seen me before?" H.M. would deny ever seeing the scientist before. Then they would shake hands. OUCH!! The scientist leaves the room, and comes back in two minutes. Rinse. Repeat. H.M. over and over would get poked by the tack.

    Then one day: Scientist asks, "Have you ever seen me before?" H.M. denies seeing the scientist before. The scientist offers a hand to shake. H.M. refuses to shake hands. When asked why, H.M. responds,

    "Sometimes scientists tape tacks on their palms."

    --

    A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

  4. Re:Authored???? by bmo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's been a valid use of the word for 400 years.

    "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow
    words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
    --James D. Nicoll