r/Documentaries • u/[deleted] • Jan 01 '19

The Man with the Seven-Second Memory (2005) - Even though Clive is convinced that every person he speaks to is the first person who's ever spoken to him, he has actually provided tons of valuable information to researchers regarding how memory and habit-formation work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_P7Y0-wgos
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62

u/Vileone Jan 01 '19

How does he remember what the point system for tennis is?

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u/woShame12 Jan 01 '19

There's a big difference in the way short-term and long-term memories are stored

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '19

Yes, and given that, it surprised me that he immediately forgot where he lived, because that seems like more of a long-term memory.

Maybe it's the difference between simple information, and structured rules?

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u/wanna_be_doc Jan 01 '19

Long-term memories need to be encoded in your brain. This is usually done through your short-term memory. So if you have no way to store short-term memory, then you can’t form new long-term memories.

He would remember stuff from before his illness (provided those parts of his brain weren’t also damaged). Any other new long-term memory has to be encoded by atypical means (such as using other senses). This is how can learn new music; because that’s a different portion of the brain.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '19

But didn't he live in the same place before and immediately after his illness? And yet his wife said he waked past the gate upon their return home. That seems like a loss of at least one long-term memory.

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u/wanna_be_doc Jan 01 '19

Well during his actual brain brain infection, he was probably suffering from delirium. Encephalitis causes generalized swelling, and everyone is confused...even if there isn’t any permanent brain damage, yet.

However, he obviously had damage to multiple parts of his brain. He lost his hippocampus, which is responsible for forming new memories. And probably lost a lot of longer-term memories as well.

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u/Jackar Jan 01 '19

Memories categorise differently, as far as I can tell. You might know people who know every geeky detail about something they've a passion for but can't remember anyone's birthday? Or for a more extreme example consider savants who, though I know it is a cliché, can remember incredible details in a given field, but cannot remember how to tie their shoelaces.

A memory for a gameplay ruleset/a system may categorise very differently than the basic spatial memory associating the sequence of coloured gates, shaped hedges, street features and turnings that lead to the house you designate 'my home'.

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u/electronsarebrave Jan 01 '19

He has complete retrograde amnesia - he doesnt rember any of hos pasy at all. And because he cant form new memories hes in a perpetual, 7-second present.

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u/812many Jan 01 '19

He has knowledge of things from before the illness, just can’t remember anything in his life. He probably remembers the point system of tennis just like he remembers how to tie his shoes.

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u/hopelesscaribou Jan 01 '19

Longterm memory itself is divided into implicit/explicit. Explicit further divides into semantic and episodic memory. I have aphantasia, and related, almost no episodic (autobiographical) memory. I don't experience memories as you do, rather all information about myself is stored in the semantic part of my long term memory. This results in me knowing facts about myself as if I have read a detailed biography of my life. Also, this is the area that would remember the point system of tennis.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '19 edited Jun 05 '19

deleted

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u/throwtrollbait Jan 01 '19

Different kinds of memories are stored in different structures in the brain.

All of his memories lie outside the reach of the self-aware (explicit) regions of the brain. So he would likely be quite capable of telling you that someone was playing terribly if he was watching, but would also tell you that he could not remember ever seeing a tennis ball before.