Preface
In the movie Memento, the viewer is faced with a number of questions about memory and the influences it has on a person’s satisfaction in life, their personality and brain function. These questions are especially relevant to the protagonist, Leonard Shelby who has Anterograde amnesia after damage to the hippocampus. The director, Christopher Nolan, accurately portrays the influences of hippocampal damage, similarly seen in Henry Molasis (H.M)
Biological
Biologically speaking, Leonard Shelby has anterograde amnesia which is caused by bilateral hippocampal damage.
Figure 1
The hippocampus plays a role in the formation of new memories and stimuli from sensory input. The hippocampus is also involved in declarative memory; memory …show more content…
Episodic memory refers to specific events in someone’s memory that have occurred in the life of the individual, whereas Semantic memory refers to the knowledge about the world, facts, general knowledge that does not directly relate to a person, but could still be a part of their life experience. Semantic memory usually doesn’t involve the role of the amygdala, because it is facts and figures. In episodic memory, the amygdala plays the role of adding an emotional aspect to the memory. . Figure2
Leonard Shelby could be compared to the case of H.M. H.M’s case led to the discovery that the hippocampus is not the place of permanent memory storage, but does played a role in the transfer of information (memories) from short term into long-term memory. Because of the lack of transfer from short term to long term, sufferers may therefore repeat comments or questions several times and forget people who they met after the trauma in a matter of minutes, as Shelby does numerous times throughout …show more content…
Classical conditioning is to the development of an association between a (CS) and a (US) and is an example of non-declarative memory, such as remembering how to do something or what happens as a result of doing performing that task, to prevent you from doing it again later. In Memento, Sammy Jankis is seen in a black and white scene with a triangle that shocked him every time he picked it up, although he should’ve been able to be conditioned to avoid the shock, he continued to pick it up. (Figure
In the movie Memento, the viewer is faced with a number of questions about memory and the influences it has on a person’s satisfaction in life, their personality and brain function. These questions are especially relevant to the protagonist, Leonard Shelby who has Anterograde amnesia after damage to the hippocampus. The director, Christopher Nolan, accurately portrays the influences of hippocampal damage, similarly seen in Henry Molasis (H.M)
Biological
Biologically speaking, Leonard Shelby has anterograde amnesia which is caused by bilateral hippocampal damage.
Figure 1
The hippocampus plays a role in the formation of new memories and stimuli from sensory input. The hippocampus is also involved in declarative memory; memory …show more content…
Episodic memory refers to specific events in someone’s memory that have occurred in the life of the individual, whereas Semantic memory refers to the knowledge about the world, facts, general knowledge that does not directly relate to a person, but could still be a part of their life experience. Semantic memory usually doesn’t involve the role of the amygdala, because it is facts and figures. In episodic memory, the amygdala plays the role of adding an emotional aspect to the memory. . Figure2
Leonard Shelby could be compared to the case of H.M. H.M’s case led to the discovery that the hippocampus is not the place of permanent memory storage, but does played a role in the transfer of information (memories) from short term into long-term memory. Because of the lack of transfer from short term to long term, sufferers may therefore repeat comments or questions several times and forget people who they met after the trauma in a matter of minutes, as Shelby does numerous times throughout …show more content…
Classical conditioning is to the development of an association between a (CS) and a (US) and is an example of non-declarative memory, such as remembering how to do something or what happens as a result of doing performing that task, to prevent you from doing it again later. In Memento, Sammy Jankis is seen in a black and white scene with a triangle that shocked him every time he picked it up, although he should’ve been able to be conditioned to avoid the shock, he continued to pick it up. (Figure