Clive Wearing, encephalitis, the hippocampus, memory, amnesia

[swag]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Wearing

On March 29, 1985, Wearing, then an acknowledged expert in early music at the height of his career with BBC Radio 3, contracted herpes encephalitis. Normally causing only cold sores, in Wearing's case the virus attacked his brain. Primarily it damaged the hippocampus, which plays a major role in the handling of long term memory formation. Additionally, he sustained marginal damage to the temporal and frontal lobes. The former houses the amygdala, a component implicated in the control of emotions and associated memories.

Wearing developed a profound case of total amnesia as a result of his illness. Because the part of the brain required to transfer memories from the 'working' to the 'long term' area is damaged, he is completely unable to encode new memories. He spends every day 'waking up' every few minutes, 'restarting' his consciousness once the time span of his short term memory elapses. He remembers little of his life before 1985; he knows, for example, that he has children from an earlier marriage, but cannot remember their names. His love for his second wife Deborah, whom he married the year prior to his illness, is undiminished. He greets her joyously every time they meet, believing he has not seen her in years, even though she may have just left the room to fetch a glass of water.

Despite having retrograde as well as anterograde amnesia, and thus only a moment-to-moment consciousness, Wearing still recalls how to play the piano and conduct a choir--all this despite having no recollection of having received a musical education. This is because his cerebellum, responsible for the maintenance of procedural memory, was to no extent damaged by the virus. As soon as the music stops, however, Wearing forgets that he has just played and starts shaking spasmodically. These jerkings are physical signs of an inability to control his emotions, stemming from the damage to his inferior frontal lobe. Unable to comprehend its structural deficiency, his brain is still trying to fire information in the form of action potentials to neurostructures that no longer exist. The resulting encephalic electrical disturbance leads to fits like those experienced by persons suffering from severe epilepsy.

In a diary provided by his caretakers, Clive was encouraged to record his thoughts. Page after page is filled with entries similar to the following:

8:31 AM: Now I am really, completely awake.9:06 AM: Now I am perfectly, overwhelmingly awake.9:34 AM: Now I am superlatively, actually awake.

Watch the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHUvCR-2AOc

[bridgit]

1. As if any further proof were needed, there are grand & vast sadness' in this world...

[swag]

2. Seems to be the case.

Fascinating for some of us, but calamitous for poor Clive and other sufferers of this and other maladies.

[bridgit]

3. Most calamitous, and that was the word that pop't first: maladies...

Therefore stay safe & whole

[swag]

4. Please do likewise.

Alternate version:

Jesus tied his ass to a tree and walked twenty miles into town. Go ye and do likewise.

It's scriptural. So ignore it.

[bridgit]

5. Ha! Isn't that the truth, "I set before you on this day life, and death...

therefore chose porn."

[swag]

7. Words to live by.

[Kali]

6. fascinating examination of the interface of the "physical" and "emotional"

I remember seeing a clip in some "learn about the brain" PBS type show the case of a man who sustained some type of brain injury and lost connection with one whole side of his body, including the concept of that direction (right or left, I forgot which)

My grandfather on my father's side had a stroke and lost a lot of long term memory but also his sense of direction. It was sad, but interesting at the same time.

[SPKrazy]

8. Yes...

and the so called "physical" world and the "emotional" world are more and more being understood in terms of Eastern culture... that there is no real difference. My best understanding of this is that the brain truly extends throughout the body in the forms of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The body is a vessel for the nerve endings that feed the brain information; the body is also the workhorse and protective apparatus for the brain. The two cannot be separated and the emotional center of the brain is not separated from the rest of the brain.

Therefore, what happens to the body affects the emotions and what happens to the emotions affects the body. The autonomic nervous system is evidence enough of that. The release of epinephrine and norepinephrine in times of acute stress; the release of cortisol and other hormones in times of chronic stress; and the overall effects of these neurohormones on the body's immune, glucose regulation, and other systems is well documented.

More and more I believe we will find that "cure" for many illnesses will be found in the so called "psychosomatic" realm, or in the use of interventions that involve learning to use the brain in new ways (biofeedback, hypnosis, and other interventions will be improved upon by the vast improvements of technology). Using computer interfaces to help a person learn to strengthen their immune response, recover from PTSD, etc. are already being used with some success.

I would suspect that this will become more and more the direction of treating chronic illness. Of course the biofeedback revolution that many thought would come about in the 1980's never did. Largely because of the major advances of pharmacology and the desire to want an instant cure without having to do much oneself.

Okay, enough babbling on. Just an area that I've worked in and have a great interest and passion for.

:hi:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

9. Its a good babble though........

and I think you're totally on the mark with these thoughts. The brain is a fascinating device, and I believe we've only scratched the surface of what it can really accomplish.

[SPKrazy]

10. thanks

and i agree totally

we don't understand much about the brain at all

think about the guy that had a brain the size of a pea that was autopsied recently.

:wtf:

we've only scratched the surface of the surface i think.

[Elidor]

11. Scarier than any horror flick

Absolutely devastating. I had to force myself to watch it, because it really gives me the heebie-jeebies.

She should get him to make videotapes of himself. Then he could watch them and be confronted with the truth. It almost seems like some part of himself is dimly aware of what's going on, as in the page in the diary where he has written, in capital letters, "I AM ALIVE."

He could make little video entries every day, and as a useful exercise, he could work on a lawsuit against the producers of Memento.