Anterograde Amnesia

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Memento follows Leonard Shelby as he unravels the mystery of who killed his wife while also having anterograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is a condition where someone can not remember short-term memories due to head trauma in the temporal cortex, such as blunt force like in the movie, substance abuse, and degenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s. The loss of memories is declarative, not procedural, so while a person with this amnesia could not remember someone new, they would still know how to ride a bike. There is partial to complete lack of recall with anterograde amnesia, and while it can be temporary, there are cases where the condition is permanent. Memories that are forgotten before the trauma happens are symptoms of a condition called retrograde amnesia. Anterograde and retrograde amnesia …show more content…
This is accurate, as the brain can only store about four pieces of information in short-term memory before the brain forgets or moves it into long-term memory. Memory is also highly interfereable, and other information can be re-written over short-term memory. This makes it very clear that Leonard has anterograde amnesia, but it could be argued that he also has PTSD that affects his memory, as he forgets a key detail within his wife's life that was known before obtaining amnesia. PTSD can also affect declarative memory, making it hard to recall important aspects of the trauma. It also includes intrusive memories of the event, which can be seen by Leonard repeatedly asking if he has talked about Sammy Jenkins and the movie spontaneously cutting back to scenes where he explains his story of Sammy. As we see at the end of the movie, Sammy’s story is Leonard’s, and while it may be true that Leonard met and worked on his case, the PTSD he has causes him to think that Sammy killed his own wife by repeatedly giving her insulin shots when she
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