A close relationship exists between learning and remembering. The video, Man Without Memory highlights the challenges of Clive Wearing. Wearing has retrograde and anterograde amnesia that has compromised his ability to remember, limiting it to only 30 seconds (Forte, n.d.). This implies that the relationship between learning and remembering does not exist. Wearing’s predicament is associated with an encephalitis infection that resulted in damage to several parts of the brain. The infection also damaged his hippocampus, further affecting the memory function. This paper will highlight the relationship between learning and remembering, and the specific section of Wearing’s brain that was damaged, resulting in memory loss. The paper will also expound on Wearing’s loss of memory for the majority of things while remembering his piano and wife. Further, the paper will expound on the memories that are likely to be missed the most in Clearing’s context. Lastly, the relationship between memories and emotions will be explored.
Learning and Remembering: The Relationship
Remembering and learning cannot be decoupled. This association is particularly critical because the manifestation of one cannot exist without the other. Learning plays a crucial role in determining one’s progression in life, especially in the context of growing and expanding intelligence. While learning is vital, retaining what one has learnt is dependent on his or her memory (Koriat, 2008). Nevertheless, learning results in crucial behavior changes amongst individuals. The process of remembering is not only active but also entails recalling the memories of not only learned activities but also events from previous experiences. A person’s skills and his or her learned activities need to utilize the information that has been stored in the memory, and remembering is an integral part of the process. Learning and remembering make use of various parts of the brain. Memory can be divided into short-term and long-term memory, and each of the two forms of memory makes use of a different part of the brain (Cowan, 2008). While short-term memory holds an individual’s thoughts for up to 30 seconds, long-term memory holds these thoughts for a more extended period.
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Region of Wearing’s Brain that is Damaged
Wearing’s renaming into the ‘man without a memory’ was connected to his amnesia. Thus, he has a problem with his hippocampus, which is typically found on the left side of the brain’s temporal lobe ( Eichenbaum , 2004 ). Nevertheless, the right side of the brain’s temporal lobe also contributed significantly towards the condition. Also, Wearing had challenges with the inferior frontal gyrus that could be the reason for the short-term memory. Wearing had a viral infection that targeted his central nervous system, hence his predicament.
Wearing’s Loss of Memory for Other things Except for His Piano and Wife
The most likely reason for Wearing remembering his piano and wife despite forgetting everything else can be tied to the value he placed on the two. It is therefore clear that Wearing loved music hence his attachment to the piano. It is also evident that he loved his wife dearly, and this increased his ability to remember her.
Memories to Miss the Most
If I were Wearing, the memories I would miss most are those associated with the time spent with my wife, especially our early marriage days. I would also miss the joys and challenges we experienced in the process of raising our children. Apart from my family life, I would also miss the time I had spent playing my piano and entertaining friends and guests.
Emotions and Memories
People often remember events that are emotionally charged as opposed to the boring ones. In particular, emotional events can be remembered easily compared to their boring counterparts. A good example in this case is the loss of a loved one compared to a normal event like taking a walk. This phenomenon occurs because what fuels memory is not necessarily the events’ significance but rather the emotions they arouse ( Levine & Pizarro , 2004 ). When this happens, the memory associated with strong emotional events and images may take centre-stage. These dynamics have been proven to be most evident in women compared to men.
References
Cowan, N. (2008). What are the differences between long-term, short-term, and working memory?. Progress in brain research , 169 , 323-338.
Eichenbaum, H. (2004). Hippocampus: Cognitive processes and neural representations that underlie declarative memory. Neuron , 44 (1), 109-120.
Forte, M. (n.d.). Clive wearing living without memory [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipD_G7U2FcM
Koriat, A. (2008). Easy comes, easy goes? The link between learning and remembering and its exploitation in metacognition. Memory & Cognition , 36 (2), 416-428.
Levine, L. J., & Pizarro, D. A. (2004). Emotion and memory research: A grumpy overview. Social cognition , 22 (5: Special issue), 530-554.
