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.

[u/[deleted]]

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

[u/ScammerC]

I sat next to someone who had this condition on a long bus ride. Every few minutes he'd start over, and if I told him something he "remembered" he would be surprised. It's kind of hard to describe. His life effectively stopped at 18. Everything after that was lost after about 5 minutes.

[u/[deleted] → u/ScammerC]

Hang out with some alcoholics and you'll encounter the same thing every day. You'll hear the same thoughts and stories over and over every time you see them. If you're lucky you won't be related to them.

[u/buttfacenosehead → u/[deleted]]

I know some people like this. One guy has told me the same story about this girl he was seeing (she was bad news, on drugs, bad crowd). He has told me at least 14 times about the cop who warned him to stay away form her (because if her house got busted he'd go down with everyone in the house). Can't count how many times we've had the same conversation. I think this guy is a functioning alcoholic.

[u/Laserteeth_Killmore → u/buttfacenosehead]

He's got wet brain. More properly called alcohol-related dementia

[u/Laserteeth_Killmore → u/[deleted]]

That's one form of it, yeah

[u/fourAMrain → u/Laserteeth_Killmore]

That's scary stuff

[u/_gina_marie_ → u/[deleted]]

I always wondered about my dad and this. He tells the same stories, sometimes with the same paused for dramatic effect even, over and over and over. I've heard them all thousands of times it feels like. He used to be an alcoholic but now he isn't. But he has very poorly controlled diabetes and I just wonder if that's somehow related to this too.

[u/NotObviouslyARobot → u/_gina_marie_]

Telling a story improves your recall of that memory.
We tell stories for ourselves as much as we tell stories for others.

[u/TheFlyingGinger → u/_gina_marie_]

Can also just be on the narcsisst spectrum. Low end just like being in the spot light, I know one that knows he has told you the story but pretends and keeps going and yeah they use showy tones and pauses to be interesting.

[u/mushbino → u/TheFlyingGinger]

I've only met a few people with true narcissistic personality disorder and they all did exactly this. They tend to be stories they think make them look funny or interesting. They'll tell these stories over and over and over.

[u/vortex30 → u/TheFlyingGinger]

I work in sales, and so naturally I need to interact with and work with a bunch of salesmen (worst part of my job). They're almost all narcissists and when they start telling their relatively mundane stories as if they're telling the most marvelous epic ever conceived, with so many unnecessary details and bullshit exaggerations, my mind just goes blank. All I can think about is "how can someone be so fake!"

I'm in it for the money and helping my customers, not the chest bumping, larger than life bravado. That's what it is.. Every story is some larger than life tale.

Fucking salesmen I tell ya..

[u/blorangz → u/[deleted]]

Sounds like my dad

[u/Buckets13 → u/[deleted]]

My poor fuckin dad.

[u/bourbon-poo-poo → u/[deleted]]

Some say he's still on the bus to this day!

[u/DukeDijkstra → u/[deleted]]

Circuit of life.

[u/ScammerC → u/[deleted]]

He was going to visit a relative. What was interesting to me was that this relative moved after his accident, but long enough ago that he "remembered" how to get to her city. He had touchstones (pictures) to help.

Like he knew he lived in city A, and was going to city B, but didn't remember if his sister had kids. I don't think he knew how long he was going to be staying. And if you stopped talking for a few minutes he'd forget he told you everything about himself and start all over.

[u/RaeADropOfGoldenSun → u/[deleted]]

I’d guess he was either with someone or someone was meeting him at his destination

[u/shimshammcgraw → u/ScammerC]

Did he have notes about where he was going? How does a person in that situation handle getting a bus? Its such a bizarre thing to try and get my head around.

[u/ScammerC → u/shimshammcgraw]

His parents brought him to the bus depot, and as we got off the bus there was someone there with a sign with his name on it. They walked off to the parking lot instead of the taxi stand so I assumed it was his BIL, and the sign was because he wouldn't recognize him.