Anterograde Amnesia In The Movie Memento

Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, was released in 2000 and provides an interesting first-hand glimpse in the world of memory. The plot is centered on the actions Leonard, an insurance investigator, who lives with his diabetic wife prior to the start of the film. The events in the film are not shown in chronological order. Nonetheless, the majority of the film depicts Leonard, who suffers from anterograde amnesia, as he tries to avenge the murder of his wife. His condition has left him unable to form new memories, so he uses notes, tattoos, and polaroid pictures to organize his thoughts and conduct his own investigation. Throughout the film, he works with Teddy, an undercover cop, to try to locate and kill his wife’s killer. The actions in the film reveal that Teddy has been manipulating Leonard for his own purposes, specifically to make money and …show more content…
the inability to form new long-term memories). Individuals with this condition are capable of remembering life before the accident, but struggle to remember and recall any events that occur after the trauma; in basic terms, it is the inability to form new memories after some traumatic event. Individuals with anterograde amnesia typically have functioning short-term memories, but lack the ability to transfer information into the long-term memory. They can remember people and facts from long ago, but cannot remember new events (i.e. names, interactions, etc.). Anterograde amnesia following brain damage is “highly selective”; the learning of new information is severely impaired, while language and LTM appear to be at normal functioning levels (McLeod). There is usually no recovery or restoration, as there sometimes is with retrograde amnesia; this condition seems to be permanent. Anterograde amnesia can be caused by many factors, such as brain surgery/damage, alcohol, or Korsakoffs syndrome