Therefore, anterograde amnesia refers to having difficulties forming memories after amnesia sets in. “Retro” as many of us know, refers to the past. Something that is anterior is situated in front of another object or event. Anterograde vs Retrograde Amnesia: What’s the Difference? So let’s bring some light to the field of forgetting as we explore retrograde vs anterograde amnesia in full, including some specific case studies from scientific literature. Movies and streaming series also often feature characters suffering some form of memory loss and calling it “amnesia.”īut using the term amnesia in these ways muddies the waters of an already complicated topic. Find The Body Odd on Twitter and on Facebook.Amnesia is a tricky term to understand because it is used in so many ways.įor example, it has become popular to talk about “political amnesia” to explain the “crisis of memory” in various parties. Despite DNA searches, his real identity is still a mystery.) Do you have friends or family who've suffered from forms of memory loss? Tell us about how they've coped in the comments. (He came to be called "BK" after the restaurant where he was discovered, which evolved to Benjamin Kyle. When he came to, he had no idea who he was, couldn't remember his own name and didn't even recognize his own face. He was lying unconscious behind the fast-food joint, with evidence of three blows to the head. There's the strange case of Benjamin Kyle, who was found behind a Richmond Hill, Ga., Burger King. His memory essentially "resets" itself every seven to 30 seconds. Other famous amnesiacs include Clive Wearing, an English musicologist, who has suffered from both retrograde and anterograde amnesia since an infection attacked his brain in 1985. No head injury, no evidence of disease or drug abuse - but for as long as 24 hours, he can't form new memories or recall old ones. "A person is walking out in the street and all of a sudden he develops this," Petersen explains. Petersen has also treated several patients with transient global amnesia, a temporary but terrifying form of memory loss that strikes seemingly at random. But it's still not understood what makes someone's memory "reset" every 30 seconds or, in Philpots' case, every day. Petersen, who did not treat Philpots, explains that the type of memory loss depends on what region of the brain is impacted for example, retrograde amnesia generally happens when damage is done to the brain's temporal lobes, and both retrograde and anterograde amnesia, like Philpots has, can happen when the hippocampus is injured. But each case is caused by a head injury, a neurological disease or, in some cases, years of drug or alcohol abuse. Some forget faces, some forget their native language, some "forget" their entire personality. Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic neurologist and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. No case of amnesia is exactly alike, says Dr. Amnesia is a handy plot device in pop culture, and memory experts say real-life "Memento" cases are rare, but they do exist. Other amnesiacs can't recall older memories, a condition called called retrograde amnesia. (She started dating her husband before her injury, but doesn't remember marrying the guy.) Philpots, 47, who lives in Spalding, England, has an extreme case of anterograde amnesia, a condition that inhibits the brain's ability to record any new memories. Since then, she's been unable to form new memories every morning, her husband has to convince her that they're married, using a photo album as proof - a real-life version of the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore movie "50 First Dates." She can remember everything that happened to her until 1994, but nothing after that - not even her 1997 marriage. Visit for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy That year, Philpots suffered traumatic brain injuries in two car crashes.
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