Community Corner
Science on Screen: MEMENTO
Told in reverse chronological order, Memento
follows former insurance investigator Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) as he
doggedly searches for his wife’s murderer despite his own severe memory
loss. Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia, a condition that makes
it impossible for him to form new memories. Incapable of remembering
anything for more than a few minutes, he relies on an elaborate system
of notes, Polaroid snapshots and crucial facts tattooed on his body to
remind himself where he is, what he’s found out, and what he should do
next. Aiding him in his search for his wife’s killer – or perhaps using
his unreliable memory for their own ends – are a cheerful and ubiquitous
fellow named Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), a
beautiful bartender. As the story of Leonard’s investigation unfolds
backwards, each scene revealing new bits of information, an alternating
narrative, involving an insurance claimant (Stephen Toblowsky) from
Leonard’s past, moves forward, adding new layers of complexity and
intrigue to one of the great mindbenders in cinema.
Neuroscientist John Gabrieli joins us before
the film to discuss how memory works, its depiction in the film, and a
real-world case of anterograde amnesia. As a graduate student at MIT,
Gabrieli was among a select group of scientists invited to study Henry
Molaison, who lived with anterograde amnesia for over 50 years after
having his hippocampus removed at age 27 to prevent epileptic seizures.
Known in his lifetime only as HM, Molaison is perhaps the most famous
patient in the history of neurology and reputed to be the inspiration
for Memento. He died in 2008, having provided groundbreaking insights into the basis of human memory.
