Leonard Shelby's Use Of Memory In Memento

Memento is a movie about a man named Leonard Shelby who suffers from short-term memory impairment and the inability to retain new memories. He is caught in a continuous loop, in which he embarks on a mission to hunt down his wife’s murderer, but forgets his claimed vengeance due to his amnesia, so his investigation continues; leading to more pointless deaths. Leonard uses techniques from the mnemonics process to aid his handicap. For instance, Leonard demonstrates the peg-type method by incorporating a visual map hung on his hotel wall, pegged with polaroids and placed in an erratic order for him to remember. He also used the loci method by tattooing list of facts on his body to remember places and events. Leonard’s issue is his central executive is compromised, in result jeopardizes his working memory.
The cognitive information processing theory according to the textbook is defined as, “the human mind’s activity of taking in, storing, and using information.” Example of how CIP works can be in the learning and performing of a guitar solo. At first the musician interprets the raw data and it is imported into the sensory memory, whereas the sensory memory then breaks down the new material and …show more content…
Once in long-term memory, it can be uploaded back to working memory for use. Thus, the guitarist can perform a solo years after he/she learned it. In Memento, it is apparent what processes of the brain are evident and which ones are missing for Leonard Shelby. Any new information Leonard picked up could not go any further than his short-term memory, so as soon as new material was interpreted it was immediately thrown out. Though, his long-term memory is still intact. He can remember being married, where he was employed, and events concerning the incident that lead to his condition. So, implicit memories are saved, however the ability to retain explicit memories is