Clive Wearing - The man with no short-term memory
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2007
- This is an edited version of the BBC documentary 'Man without a memory' ( • Man without a memory -... ). It shows the essence of Clive's disability (and it's pretty sad to watch too!).
Post-view question to ponder: do you think Clive is happy? 
Развлечения
As sad as this story is, I find it adorable how this guy is always so excited to see his wife
imagine how lonely he must feel all the time to be that excited to see her
He's not feeling lonely at all. That's your consciousness line:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------B
B - means 2017, now, present day, you remember more or less (human memory is not perfect) "the past"
Now, that's Mr Wearing Consciousness line:
--------------------------------A() - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - B
A - means 1985, it is "now" for him, he remembers more or less (and maybe those bits are damaged too) "the past" but only from that point, moreover I suspect that he lost most of his "memory" during sleep(!), so every 7 seconds or so he "wakes up" not knowing what happened in his conscious mind. Even though his "hard" memory is still in "sleep mode". He is living but at the same time he is (kind of) dead, only thing that he "really" remembers is nothingness, sleep, darkness. It is hard to grasp in our minds "where" his mind "is", it is very close to a paradox inside the mind. In my opinion there are a lot of mind healing avenues that the doctors didn't try with him (like substances that "rewire" the brain, "unlock" new neurological connections: dmt, psylocibin, lsd, lsa etc), If I would be his family I would try it no matter what, who knows, maybe he would "restart" some functions in his brain. If he would be conscious of his state he sure would too. Like he said, it is worse than death.
Unfortunately, Clive Wearing had his hippocampus permanently damaged by viral encefalitis. This part of the brain is crucial in forming new memories, and that's why he can't be treated with substances.
I think he does feel lonely, because in the full documentary when he had access to a phone during his 7 yr stay in St Mary's hospital, he left numerous despondent voicemail messages, saying how much he missed and wanted to see her. He was convinced she hadn't visited him all that time and was literally crying down the phone, despite the fact she has only seen him minutes ago.
Yeah... but his disease is caused by a virus of Herpes Encefalitis, a variation of regular Herpes, which is the most common sexually transmitted infection.
So there goes the love story.
"As far as I'm concerned the doctors have been totally incompetent, I've never seen a doctor." LOL
It's sweet to see the genuine excitement he has because truly he only recognizes her. It's great for him to have someone he loves so dearly but must be extremely difficult for her
+CarAmeL624
She left him.
AdmiralZhao007 :O are you serious!!?
+CarAmeL624
The last recorded instance of them being together was in 2005. Do you think she would put up with that for over a decade after she sold her book? To love a man who merely "shows" love to her back but cannot remember anything she does, and cannot put any context behind anything she does for him?
+CarAmeL624 Clive actually passed away in 2008, maybe as u said, thats it too much for his wife to handle.
Wikipedia says he's still alive. (If he did die as you say, I wonder why no one updated it.)
I'm very interested in the comment he made at 2:27
"Its been like death. I've never seen a human being before. Never had a dream or a thought. Brain has been totally inactive. Day and night the same; no thoughts at all."
He seems like a very logical and intelligent man, who also seems emotionally healthy. I wonder how he was so aware of his situation at that moment. What did the interviewer even ask him to get a response like that?
+orochimarujes
Great question. I was interested by that comment too.
Actually he says that a lot. Here's a link to an older documentary clip and he says that many many times. "I've never been conscious before" "I've never seen you before" "I've never had a thought before"
ruclips.net/video/JC_eeppPYlw/видео.html
He's not mentally ill... there's only one or two parts of his brain that isn't working. He's capable of processing rational thought, it's like windows when you delete a couple of system files... some features then might not work correctly, but the operating system is still working perfectly fine.
There are parts of the brain that still function completely normally. For instance his piano playing and as you can see he doesn't COMPLETELY forget his wife is there either as long as she's in sight so there is some sort of string of memory going on. I'm guessing that has allowed his brain to somewhat rewire itself, but not to any great effect. His case is so severe that it seems like his hippocampus has been destroyed.
I would be very interested to know what psychedelics drugs on a regular basis would do. It might allow these people to retain more memory in the long run.
Frantick you know, I was wondering the same thing: what if this poor fellow came into contact with mushrooms or salvia? Never done either myself, but I hear they’re capable of mind-shredding hallucinations.
2:39 this man is truly British if he has lost pretty much all his mental process but he can still complain about something
Your comment made my day good sir!
i don’t think he’s entirely complaining. i think he’s using the TONE of complaint to illustrate his lack of memory. it was more of an amnesiac joke.
😂😂😂😂😂 lmfaooo🤣🤣🤣
"I've never seen a human being before. Never had a dream or a thought. Brain has been totally inactive, day and night the same. No thoughts at all. As far as I'm concerned the doctors are totally incompetent. I've never seen a doctor. "
His moments of clarity like that must be terrifying.
"I've never seen a human being before."
This is actually kind of sad...
I teared up when he saw his wife. How sad and sweet at the same time... Poor man. He seems really nice.
The emotion he feels for his wife, love, is one of the only things he has retained. It shows how powerful our emotions are in the question of memory.
The reason why he's still able to play the piano is because the ability to play the piano is stored in the procedural memory or implicit memory rather than in the explicit episodic memory. In Clive's case his episodic memory (the part where experiences are stored) cannot be added to, however he can even still learn how to do new things. Though he won't remember learning them. And of course he still remembers what everything is (like doctors) because that's part of the semantic memory which is also intact.
I'm a psychology student and this video was shown to us in class in regards to the study of how memory works. I saw the annotation at the beginning of the video, so I figured I'd clarify that for you.
+OneOnOne1162 does this means we dont have free will?
AQA Psychology
It just shows how memory is stored and retrieved.
Can he learn new things on the spot? I have not seen a clip of him trying that. +Saia sox neuroscientists are looking into that, based on some research over the past few years, it is questionable whether free will exists. As long a s you define free will as the ability for us to use our conscious mind to make a decision, or something like that.
+saiasox This honestly, in my personal estimation, says little to nothing about free will. Though personally, I am a compatibilist.
I hope my future husband gets that excited when I walk in the room.
Kammy Marie He can't remember That his wife is around so he thinks its been a long time since he has seen her.
Kammy Marie 2 years ago
@@no-de3lg 6 years ago
I must ask my dear friend, have you achieved that yet?
@@Icameinclutch Unfortunately, no. I actually stopped believing this kind of love exists so thank you for reminding me about this story.
Imagine how hard was the shooting of this documentary:
Wearing: What the hell are you people doing here?!
Producer: Well, Mr. Wearing we are (takes over 30 seconds to explain), so, is that ok with you?
Wearing: What the hell are you people doing here?!
haha!!
REMEMBERER SAMMY!!
Remember, he doesn't have a clue where he is. Wouldn't make sense to demand to know why somebody else is there too (wherever that is). It really isn't his own place.
I laughed way too hard at that
Hi! I'm Dory!
oh my gosh - how he greets her at the end D: don't mind me, I'm just going to go cry in a corner now
Becca M He also doesn't know that his "wife" has a new partner and visits out of sympathy for him, not because she still loves him. I don't blame her but real life is not romantic.
+cygil1 Actually they renewed their vows. She does still love him.
+cygil1 Romantic "feelings" and real love are not necessarily one and the same. Those romantic feelings are transient and often wear off. True love is sticking beside someone through the good and bad, no matter what you feel like.
Do you have a source for her finding a new partner? I wouldn't blame her if it was true but I haven't heard of it before.
Becca M He still has love in his heart
its so sweet how devoted he is to his wife. all that excitement and ability to recognize her is raw human passion which shows that she has left such a deep impression in him and his memory that he still remembers who she is :) if u looked at his other video from several years earlier than this one, he would write her name and love notes for her repeatedly in a journal even if he doesnt recall writing them. truely beautiful and amazing
I know it's sad but for some reason I thought it was endearing. Especially how he acted when he saw her and how she is with him.
Hali Marlow Like a dog when you get home. You have been gone 30 min, but its like they haven't seen you in a year.
+Hali Marlow If you watch the full interview, he does the same thing when he sees her, and she'd never even left the room.
+wReckLesss I know that's what I'm saying he is soo excited to see her and she goes along with him even though she literally just saw him
+Joost Schenk honestly, i don't know how he manages.. i know i wouldn't be able to.
What a sweet man. And a lovely couple. It makes me sad to think that he can't remember anything, but it touches me to see how happily he reacts whenever he sees her.
How many women can say that their husband is that happy to see them after 20 years of marriage?
Lol
None
@@Keezy59 some are, don't say none. If you marry the love of your life you are
@@Keezy59 bet you would still be happy with playstation after 20 years eh?
Okay so you guys are sitting here telling me that the average wife can say that their husband is *that* happy to see them everyday after 20 years of marriage?...... I'll wait
Having the care and support of his wife(the only person he still remembers well) keeps him happy
He seems like such a nice man, and a wife that loves him. I know he does not have short term memory but if he has a person that loves him and keeps him happy when he sees her that's great. I had seen the joy in his eyes when his wife entered the door.
What is he going to do if the wife dies first or pre-mature D: upsetting really
the hippocampus, which is impaired in his case, is necessary for making episodic long-term memories. it is not necessary for non-declarative memory, though. in one case, the experimenter held a pin in his hand and shook the hand of an anterograde amnesia patient like this one and pricked his hand. the next day, the patient did not want to shake the hand of the experimenter even though he did not know why. and amnesia patients can still learn procedural things like riding a bike. so maybe clive wearing laughs and talks with his wife, and unconsciously likes her a lot.
here's some more information and story about Clive in this radiolab podcast.
www.radiolab.org/story/91578-clive/
Apparently over his first decade he was much worse. Got very angry very easily and wrote incessant notes on everything. Whole rooms were filled with post-its and other reminders. Entire notebooks would be filled in a matter of days. Amazingly, for someone without the ability to form new memories, at one point his mind subconsciously began to accept what had happened to it and he was suddenly at peace with himself and his condition.
(Source: the full video from where this clip was taken--saw the whole thing on TV a few weeks ago.)
He's got short term memory (which is very brief in duration, hence why he can still have conversations, which last a few seconds). He doesn't have the ability to encode new information into his episodic long-term memory, which is basically a collection of your autobiographical memories. He only remembers personal experiences that happened prior to the point where his amnesia developed hence he will still remember that he's got children, but in his mind they'll still be 16 or however old they were before he got amnesia. And since he can't encode any new info, no matter how many times you try to explain to him he's in 2015, he will never be able to remember it. So sad and unfair as they seem like a lovely couple! His reaction to seeing his wife makes me tear up every time! So sweet...
Find somebody that reacts like he does every time they see you
Is he not surprised to see a stranger holding a camera in the living room?
Rhett and Link sent me
Me too!
Me too. How sad, he doesn't remember.. :\
Mhmm
me too
Nick Bianchi yup #GMMore
This is so telling. I watched a documentary about him (from 20-30 years prior) and interestingly the memory of his wife is still strong and music seems to be very powerful tool for recalling other memories too.
Where is this documentary?
Poor man... This makes me feel sad.
Clive asks if they can dance. How touching. I just love how excited he is to see his wife. It's just terrible knowing what the reason is.
this remind me of man i visted named sammy jenkins during one of my insurance fraud investigations, i could never truly tell if he was faking or not.
do you think halfway through taking a shit he just stops and thinks "what the fuck am i doing"
You're a horrible person
I love it
^mad
***** There are no limits to comedy
xJoe90 no because he's on the toilet and there's shit coming out. But obviously he can't drive anywhere. He'll forget where he's going before he gets there
I think he remembers 'he's on the toilet and determine that he must be taking a shit' because of his procedural memory is still intact
="( He loves her so much!!
love is the only thing that trascends the abyss. :(
I simple love how much he adores and loves his wife. That's so wonderful to me.
I've heard that the reason he is so excited every time he sees his wife is because it's like he's seeing her for the first time in 20 years.
“As far as I’m concerned the doctors have been totally incompetent I’ve never seen a doctor.”
Could have been worse, his wife could have been killed, and he could have been looking for her murderer and tattooing notes to himself all over his body.
thank you
You sir are a genius.
is that a movie or what?
Platinum yes momento. Check it out.
Momento. Excellent movie.
Plot twist : he is faking to avoid conversations.
60 minutes and 30 seconds will never be the same
The shame is he seems like a terribly intelligent and sweet man.
Change the title. Clive Wearing does not have a short-term (or working) memory problem. He has consistently demonstrated intact recency effects in recall as large as control subjects. His problem is with long-term memory. When herpes simplex encephalitis caused his brain to swell (inflammation, infection) it damaged numerous areas of his cortex, including (most likely) his hippocampus or some related/supporting structures. This has resulted in profound ANTEROGRADE amnesia insofar as Clive has difficulty (if not impossible) learning new facts or events. Obviously this is a long-term memory problem because, as the video points out, Clive's memory "really only lasts about 30 seconds". Then he HAS short-term memory. The issue is that he cannot create new long-term memories so anything that leaves conscious awareness is gone entirely for him.
For the cynics and doubters, I am a Cognitive Psychologist (PhD) and I teach both Cognition and Learning & Memory courses. I discuss the case of Clive Wearing in great detail with my students so I know it well. The title of this video is yet another example of how our society misunderstands memory.
You, Sir, are the best kind of person. Thank you for the clarification and correction.
Hi sir. I'm your student in college. Do you remember me?
+Arlo Clark-Foos Ph.D in psychology LOL nice try though.
+YogaBallzHuge While Internet should give everyone a possibility to express their opinions, telling someone to kill themselves is never okay. It doesn't under what circumstances it's been said. It is not okay.
+Arlo Clark-Foos This should be the top comment. Not "some idiots nobody cares about sent me here".
It's beautiful how much love he still has for his wife, absolutely beautiful!
They look happy...
For me it s happiness don't remember anything...it s like Paradis....remember just beloved one ..no thoughts no fears...no bad memories...he is blessed one
his love for his wife is incredible wow
they should do a test right after he wakes up to recall what dream he had, and see if he manages to do so. could be intersting.
The story almost made me cry.. not because it's sad but because in spite his illness and memory loss he still recognizes his wife as the woman he loves
Although he has no memory he played piano very well. It’s so adorable he can recognize his wife. Sometimes I feel like him I have no memory.
I would say for the most part Clive is happy , when his wife is present. It's like he comes alive when she enters the room every-time from not existing to existing ,that second embrace I almost cried, because he embraced her like he had not seen her in ages!!
Caring wife, any way they are happy, no body lives for 10,000 ten thousand years on this planet its lucky he forgot all worldly things.
🙏😇
Hang on, he has brief short term memory, but he does not have the ability to convert new memories into long term memory... He can hold a thirty second conversation at times, which demonstrates working memory
Yes, the title is incorrect. He absolutely has short-term memory. He simply cannot convert STM to LTM.
This kind of mistake is pervasive -- I don't understand why people confuse STM and LTM...
Lack of knowledge/understanding of the topic I guess.
Dexter C actually no... He can hold a conversation as long as that is ALL he is focusing on. That's why she says it varies all the way down to 7 seconds
He can't really though, he can communicate and go on as if he recalls, but when he is asked what they just spoke about, he cannot remember, so really he is just following the flow without understanding of what that flow is about
You see.... I have this condition
So 10 second Tom wasn’t fake. Very tragic but it doesn’t seem it’s lowered his quality of life(more than it’s bound too).
Indeed. We should all be thankful for what we were given, and even more thankful that something like this has never happened to us. May God be with both Deborah and Clive.
One really amazing thing to notice is that compared to the early videos of his illness, he seems to have improved greatly over the years. He's much more articulate and seems a lot less confused and frightened by the world around him.
Thanks for posting this.
This is worst than the NOTEBOOK
GOD bless them
Imagine if this dude has just been trolling his wife for the last few decades
imagine this imagination
That is...outrageous. This is one of those videos that I inexplicably feel the need to keep coming back to. It's sad, it's sweet, it's unique and unusual. When Clive's wife keeps asking him the same questions repeatedly to demonstrate just how deeply entrenched the poor fellow is in what can only be regarded as a seemingly purgatorial state of total oblivion, I am always sent into roaring fits of laughter. "Buckingham Palace." Awesome! He's always going on and on about his lack of dreams or any previous memory of consciousness, complaining that he hasn't seen a doctor and insisting that the care that he has received has been inadequate. All his waking life or every moment of cognitive lucidity is an experience where which he is under the recurring and mistaken impression that he has just woken up in a hospital from a long period of unconsciousness. "No dreams even, day and night the same..." If you've happened to watch any of the other Clive documentaries on RUclips then I'm sure you're familiar with his oft-recycled schtick. It would be hard to resist the temptation to ask him silly questions, mess with him a little (not spitefully of course), have bizarre, nonsensical conversations that go nowhere; lots of possibilities there. Clive, you're an awesome guy and a brilliant composer. Sorry this happened to you!
It's like the way a dog gets excited every time you come in the room.
The way he greets his wife with such enthusiasm and joy is both beautiful and heartbreaking to watch.
1:15 what if he can really remember stuff he just doesn't give a crap about anything anyone says.
Eric Johnson best coverup in the world
Everytime he sees his wife... same reaction...
"Like death" and "day and night the same" are very frequent expressions he makes in the documentary.
That is the most loving and patient wife! He husband seems super happy and full of life, but literally has the memory of a goldfish... She is a special type of woman to life that kind of life... true love
Kaleigh Dee she’s not with him she just visits
But she's NOT living that kind of life. And good for her. Altruism is poison.
The same way he remembers how to play the piano. This is 'procedural' knowledge that is stored in a different place in the brain than explicit memories. Also, his amnesia works forward (or 'anterograde') from the moment the damage was done. Previous knowledge was mostly left intact.
That must be awfully harrowing for the wife, it's like constantly losing a loved one.
I was glued to the screen when I first saw it on BBC... just awed
Homework was to watch this guy. Yes.
Actually his long-term memory is impaired not his short-term memory.
he truly lives in the moment, he lives on the last three words that someone just said to him. the past falls back behind him and all he has is a tiny little window in the present, not past not future. can u imagine how it would feel to be a blank slate except for that moment, it would be like spending your whole life writing with a pen that's out of ink. wow
It's sad, but it's so sweet that he adores his wife so much.
It's awesome that he still feels happy
Man imagine having a husband that’s that happy to see his wife. Even if she’s only gone for a second. Meanwhile you have all these other douchebag husbands where their wives have been gone for days or weeks and there like ohh hey.
what you said made me laugh and cry at the same time.
True love is persevering.
So many people get married and they hate each other. Chances are those people never truly love each other, they married because that was the expectation
What I find fascinating is that he seems to know what it feels like to be reborn! If he is aware of his previous conciousness and that his brain has been totally inactive since that last time then he is aware of himself being alive at the prestent and the past just as one might expect to die and only ever know it upon the realization that one lived. Otherwise they would not know it as death only as now.
wow this is sad and very touching! his wife is the only person he recognizes...and every time he sees her, its as if he hasnt seen her in years, so she leaves the room and stays longer then 30 secs. and when she comes back he greets her like shes been gone for years! he writes in his diary everyday when he wakes up " I just woke up, and I love my wife" ......we watched this in cognitive psych, durin the memory lesson, and my professor almost cried, and had us all cryin..
Brilliance comes in so many different ways and forms. Clive Wearing is a brilliant musician. And, he is clearly lived by his children and wife. Many people do not have a thimble full of what Clive Wearing has to date.
They are divorced though.
"I'd been 27 when Clive got ill. I was now turning 35. I initiated divorce. I took a plane to Washington DC and sold the London flat. I planned to stay away forever, make a new life. It didn't work out quite that way.
Clive never knew we were divorced because he was incapable of knowing anything. His family and his consultant agreed it would only upset him at the time, and he would remember none of it afterwards anyway. Legally he could not give informed consent, so his son acted for him.
Everyone understood that the divorce was partly one of expedience, since I would not be in the UK to look out for Clive; and partly an action to help me move on to a life beyond Clive. But I would remain joint next of kin with his son, because I wanted to continue to be involved in taking decisions about Clive, to continue to be his advocate. His family supported me in that."
they later remarried ruclips.net/video/k_P7Y0-wgos/видео.html
I thought Dory was a fish...
What a lovely man, and a lovely woman. It's sad that this happened to them.
God bless him he’s very intelligent and well spoken it’s such a shame he has no memories of anything
He has a short term memory, he has no new long term memory, people just don't understand the difference.
Somehow, I reckon he'd be a great comedian, he seems to still be capable of emotional responses and is able to recognise such emotional responses.
i didnt expect to be teary eyed, so sweet. yet very sad.
How nice to see your loved one as if for the first time in a long time.
I'm watching this video for psychology and because of the field I am going in to. Some of these comments are terrible. Obviously none of you know what is going on here......idiots. Have some respect.
When I forget something small like an ingredient to my dinner, I get frustrated. I can not imagine the struggle of being unable to recall anything. This man has a good attitude about it now after 20 years and I am glad to see he has a support system in place to help him. Him and his wife truly have a strong bond if he can not recall his own sister but can recognize his wife.
he is so excited to see her!!!!!! and she is sweet enough to play along..wow!
I do the same thing with my wife, I just does not lessen of what she said, but I am very happy to see her.
incoming mythical beasts
He didn't forget how much he loved his wife.... the only thing that really matters is LOVE.
Cute. But that was probably a totally random occurence. Love has no special power over brain damage, I'm afraid.
I just want someone to love me the way Clive is when he greets Deborah. He is so precious!
heart touching.
report the case of Clive Wearing, a gifted musician and scholar who, at the height of his career, became infected by herpes simplex encephalitis / his amnesia is extremely severe in comparison with other reported cases, particularly in regard to both his retrograde amnesia, which extends back for virtually the whole of his life, and his episodic memory / as well as his episodic deficits, Clive has marked semantic memory impairments for both visual and verbal material / he believes he has just woken up and this state of awakening has persisted for over 8 yrs / his musical ability appears to be relatively unaffected by his amnesia /
describe the onset of his illness and the nature of his memory dysfunctioning (Wilson, B. A., & Wearing, D., 1995).
NB4 Good Mythical More Beasts.
This is perhaps the only guy where you could insult him or something and actually get away with it.
It's really nice, how he reacts to his wife every time 🥰
If god really exists, how could he let someone live like that. He doesn't dream, he doesn't know where he are, who and how his children are. I cried when i saw his wife trying to say the same thing three times, and: "you know what ? What a surprise to see you my dear wife!" but she was there the whole time.
Oh great...another God really exists comment. The guy has severe memory problems. What's God supposed to do, kill the guy because he can't remember anything?
I knew if I searched hard enough I'd find the one person who blames God, his OWN idea of God, rather than blaming science for not having a current cure.
Literally my worst fear.
You may remember it is your worst fear, but you won't remember you are living your worst fear.
When the leaves fall, you will look upon them and smile.
When the snow falls, you will look upon each and every flake and smile.
When the birds no longer roost, you will think about them and smile.
Then the covers come. Those white sheets of impenetrable blankess, they will swarm you and smother the leaves and everything that makes you you. They will swallow your soul, spit out the seeds, leave no room for mercy. They will have taken everything. They will have left you a carcass rotting, waiting to be devoured by unknown entities.
Those white sheets will stay upon you. They will stay and they will smother until even your bones are gone. They will smother until there is nothing left.
Then they will pull away. They will melt. They will reveal what carnage they have caused.
And beyond you, beyond the nothing of your self that they have created, will lay seas of broken leaves, each crumb crushing a different blade of grass. The sheets secede. The leaves wither. And all that is left is a dead, brown lawn.
You are the grass.
So prepare yourself, because winter is upon us.
AJ Flanigan I. CANT. READ.
I've never had someone write that to me before. Touche.
His always so Excited to see Deborah and that made me Cry.... God Bless Him
me and this man can relate
I think that guy just doesn't give a fuck.
how cute, the only person he knows and can trust is his own wife x). I like how he forgot that she was in the room.
It's not really "cute" more heartbreaking than anything to have to live like that.
***** I'm not so sure. He has a high degree of functionality for someone with such severe brain damage, he seems content, and he is still able to recognize his wife and do certain basic tasks for himself. The human brain is amazingly resilient; and his has "re-wired" itself a bit to give him a higher degree of functionality over the years. He is still able to play the piano very well. As I understand it, that is more a part of procedural memory, and therefore once initiated, the brain can carry on the activity because it does not actually require the damaged parts of his brain.
Mcommander23 It's like" I Just lost a part of myself, better rewire some stuff and carry on."
Awe, how precious to see him so happy when he sees his wife.
that is the saddest sweetest thing ive ever seen