One day, Mary Sue Campbell called her daughter very confused and disoriented, she could not remember what year it was and didn't recognize her own car that was parked outside her house. Her daughter brought her to the hospital and the doctors diagnosed her with Transient Global Amnesia. Doctors don't know what causes it, and it usually lasts anywhere from 1 to 24 hours. With this form of amnesia, you can still remember who you are and recognize relatives, but you may forget recent events and are unable to make new memories (anterograde amnesia).
It was as if every 2 minutes or so, Mary Sue's memory reset itself, and she would have the same conversation with her daughter over and over again. Each time her memory reset, she would ask her daughter questions about the date, then about her recent birthday which she couldn't remember, then about what happened that morning. I found it fascinating that she would not only ask the same questions each time, but she often used the same wording, or very close to it. It shows how predictably we react in certain situations. The video below shows Mary Sue talking to her daughter, this was near the end of her episode of amnesia, so she was beginning to retain more of her memory. Mary Sue had the same conversation with her daughter for around 9.6 hours, and she had fully recovered from her amnesia after 26 hours.
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Radiolab: Loops
I actually listened to this podcast just a few days ago-- it's really interesting! I find it really intriguing to think about just how closely our memories are tied to our ability to function in society. As we saw in the video, Ms. Cambell was essentially unable to get anywhere, because her memory continued to reset itself and she was forced to try to find the same answers to the same questions every single time her memory reset. It's a really sad concept.
Wow, that is just amazing. I've never met someone who's had any type of amnesia. It would be so interesting to see someone with it, although I would feel terrible if it wasn't only a day lasting thing. I am not sure if you've seen the movie 50 Firsts Dates, but I think it's similar in that her memory resets after every day. In the movie she gets into a car accident and part of her brain is damaged, so it isn't just amnesia, but it's still a memory deficiency. It's so scary to think that one can simply lose their memory, even for a day. It's interesting also that the woman in the video did ask the same kinds of questions each time, and there wasn't even a pause really, she just started over.
I can't even imagine what it would be like to experience this type of amnesia, both from the daughter's perspective and from Mary Sue's. The fact that every two minutes for twenty-six hours her memory "reset" itself is baffling. I think it would be very interesting to know what happens in the brain during Transient Global Amnesia--once it is discovered, that is. I find it extremely strange that there isn't a known cause, which is a scary thought.
This is so scary. Does this type of amnesia effect people of a certain age? I am so glad she is going to be okay.
She isn't even able to remember having a Cat Scan 5 minutes ago. She can absolutely not remember that the day of the week is Tuesday.
I wonder if our brain gets overheated ? Now I'm comparing our brains to a computer or something. Didn't we just learn about that? Nice entry. I enjoyed it.
This is very interesting! It is remarkable how much of our memory affects us. Every time her brain resets she has to start over her questions to discover what is going on. It is very scary to consider this could happen to anyone.
Very interesting. It is really good that she recovered after 26hours! I would be super depressed if it happens to my mom and she doesn't recover from it. I would be so scared. I think anterograde amnesia is worse than the other one because it would make others very tired too. I just hope I wouldn't get any of this kind of disease.
I was surprised that she is even wording with almost same words for the same conversation! I reminds that impairment in various parts of brain can bring many different disorder with memeory. I think I would not forget this kind of surprising amnesia.
I have never seen anything like this. Wow I cannot believe how predictable the human actually is. I cannot imagine how scary that is for her daughter! My friend actually has stress induced amnesia episodes and just listening to her sister talk about it is incredibly fascinating. For a day she will function, drive, eat but not remember any of it. She just goes off the radar for days at a time. The brain is a fascinating organ.