Mr. Thompson’s Issues Regarding Identity in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

Yet, “I don't remember. See, have no short-term memory. It's not amnesia” is incorrect, since he does have an anterograde amnesia. In addition, he does have short-term memory, but he just cannot transfer to long-term memory because he is not able to repeat within 10 minutes. To state an another point, it could be contradictory that if Leonard has a deficit in long-term memory, it would be difficult for him to do everyday routines, such as taking a shower, but he can perform those actions. However, if we look at long-term memory in the detailed manner, it can be divided into two parts: declarative and nondeclarative memory. In Leonard’s case, his procedural memory was intact, so that is why he did not have much problem doing so. It can be said that he had an impairment of declarative memory, similar to case H.M., which we have learned in the

Amnesic syndrome "difficulty acquiring new general knowledge, or semantic memories, as well as impairment in forming episodic memories." Terry, W. Scott. Learning and memory: basic principles, processes, and procedures. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2009. Print. Although, they can learn some procedural learning through classical conditioning. Korsakoff's syndrome was named after a Russian psychiatrist in the late 19th century and is caused by long term alcohol abuse. The disease progresses slowly and shows symptoms retrograde and anterograde

It is apparent that patient H.M.’s memory has not been affected by any general intellectual loss. H.M has severe anterograde amnesia, but surprisingly has spared implicit memory. Implicit memory is a type of memory in which past experiences aid the presentation of a task without mindful awareness of the experiences. There have been many tests conducted on the patient to test this spared memory.

The combined findings provide the foundation for the hypothesis that there is more than one kind of memory, or rather that skill-based memories must be organised differently from fact-based memories since the former seem to be preserved in amnesia as opposed to the latter.

This book, although has a very strange title was very interesting. Oliver Sacks The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat considers the psychological disorders of various individuals. Specifically, patients that have lost their memories of their past and act out in a violent matter. The book allows you to sympathize with people who are struggling through mental illness and get a deeper in-depth perspective on what it is like to live with it. Sacks allows you to see that having a mental illness does not make you retarded rather it allows potential to unlock other amazing talents that a patient may possibly hold. Also, Sacks sees opportunity within these people that everyone else cannot and he allows you to open your mind and see this process as

In the movie 50 First Dates one of the main characters suffers from the severe condition of anterograde amnesia. The movie is about Henry Roth who is a wildlife veterinarian in Hawaii, meeting Lucy Whitmore a woman who has a short-term memory loss from an auto accident a year earlier. Henry meets Lucy at a local cafe and takes her out on a date. Henry falls in love with Lucy, but there is one problem when she awakens in the morning, she can't remember him or anything that happened that day. Henry must devise a plan to meet Lucy everyday and try to get her to fall in love with him again and again.

In The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, Oliver Sacks, explores many different stories of people who have brain dysfunctions. Divided into four parts; losses, excesses, transports, and The World of the Simple. Oliver Sacks illustrates the lives of people with mental incapabilities, hyper-functions, retardation, and a mental world.

- Having a recollective experience or a feeling of knowing may not be sufficient, but it remains unresolved

According to professor Oliver Sacks the Korsakoff syndrome is a preventable memory disorder that usually develops; although not always, in the result of an episode of neurological disorder. The present paper reviews the studies and reflections on how this specific neurological disorder affects the self and the human condition. However, professor Sacks aims to fill the gap on how a Korsakoff‘s patient develops the syndrome differently than others. The characteristic that patients developed includes total loss of inner reality, of feeling and meaning, of soul, high fever, raved and ceased to recognize all their families. He analyses the factors that help explain how all Korsakoff patients are capable of new learning, particularly if they live in a calm and how are their reactions on a well-structured

A narrative is constructed to elicit a particular response from its audience. In the form of a written story, authors use specific narrative strategies to position the ‘ideal reader’ to attain the intended understanding of the meanings in the text. Oliver Sacks’ short story The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is an unusual short story because it does not display conventional plot development; the story does not contain conflict or resolution of conflict. The genre of the story is also difficult to define because it reads as an autobiographical account of an experience Sacks had with a patient while working as a neurologist. Although it is arguable that the narrative is a work of non-fiction, it is nevertheless a representation, distinct

Losing one’s memory can be a mysterious affliction, and the causes can be quite complex. Severe memory loss is introduced in author Oliver Sacks’ collection of stories The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and lectures given by professor Jim Davies can help with understanding of some of the concepts introduced in the book. In chapter two, The Lost Mariner, the patient Jimmie is suffering from aspects of both retrograde and anterograde amnesia, which Davies explained as loss of memory of events or facts learned before an event (the event that caused the amnesia), and loss of ability to create new memories after the event, respectively. In more detail, and in relation to our book (here, the target example), retrograde amnesia would consist of any loss of memory that happened prior to an event, such as an injury or onset of disease in Jimmie’s case. Dr. Davies’ explanation of retrograde amnesia helps to understand Jimmie’s case, where in the year 1975 he is unable to recall any events after 1945. As well, the explanation of anterograde amnesia as including symptoms such as inability to form new memories, learn information or tasks, or to recall the recent past is useful when applied to Jimmie’s experience of not being able to recall events that happened even a few minutes prior. Jimmie’s suffering from both retro and anterograde amnesia, as explained by Sacks, results from Korsakov’s syndrome – a destruction of memory caused by alcoholic

The human body is miraculous, yet imperfect. It is a complex community of peculiar systems, each made up from complicated cells. System or cell, they all share the same purpose: to maintain life. Existence is fragile; threatened by disease and age, even a miraculous system sometimes needs support. Biomedical science provides that support, and furthers our understanding of how to do so. It is a field that is always changing and advancing; always helping to improve our lives, to ensure we keep functioning. Biomedical Science consists of furthering what we do know, and discovering what we have yet to - and both have always fascinated me.

Korsakov's syndrome is a devastating impairment of recent memory that is caused by a thiamine deficiency which can result from alcohol abuse, mal-absorption, hyperemesis or starvation. Furthermore, other causes of Korsakov's syndrome also include heavy metal poisoning, head injury and tumors. A patient suffering from Korsakov's syndrome will most likely have an extensive pathology in the bilateral hippocampus and will actively exhibit confabulation. Confabulation occurs when a patient creates pseudo-memories about what happened during a forgotten episode. Also, during confabulation the patient's recall of the events of the past seem more imaginative than logical. Fortunately, although the patient may exemplify confabulation there

The human brain is a fantastical machine, capable of great feats of elasticity and resourcefulness. This is no clearer demonstrated than in the case of E.P, and the separation of memory and habit. I found it fascinating that E.P was able to follow the path of the walk he took with his wife but was unable to identify which house was his. This incredible idea of the brain recovering from a debilitating problem as best it can is quite interesting. I did not think that habit and memory were so separated that one could lose the ability to form new memories but could form habits that were so similar to the perceptions of memory. The cases of H.M and E.P also offer valuable insight into the roles that differing components of the brain assume. The hippocampus is vital for memory, and also vital for living a certain quality of life. Meanwhile, the medial temporal lobe also impacts memory, but E.P was able to live at home and maintained a high level of intellect. The fact that both H.M and E.P could live without large sections of their brains is remarkable, and reveals a lot about the elasticity and adaptations of the brain. However, E.P’s case truly highlights the divide between memory and habit. Habits can occur with a low level of brain activity and conscious thought, as they are mostly driven by the unconscious once the cue is received. As long as the basal ganglia is intact, it appears that habits will form, and these habits are on a delicate equilibrium. With one disturbance,

Case 1 tells the story of Henry Molaison (HM), a man with no memory. He lost his memory due to the operation of suctioned out the hippocampus to treat his epileptic seizures. At that time, it was not known yet that the hippocampus was essential for making memories. After operation, his seizures were significantly reduced, but Henry suffered a global amnesia. Owen et al. (2007) describes patients with global amnesia as perceptive and attentive but with a total loss of short-term memory and some trouble accessing memories of the recent past. Henry could not learn new things as he quickly forgot everything that he had learned. He could learn at a subconscious level only.