He Lost His Memory Every Few Seconds: The Man Who Had To Keep Rediscovering His Own Life

Initially, being an acclaimed musicologist, conductor, and pianist from Great Britain, Clive Wearing devoted his entire life to classical music. Nevertheless, an unforeseen change of events took place, which altered his career due to an unexpected illness that attacked him in the middle of the 1980s.

In particular, in 1985, Wearing got herpes simplex encephalitis, which negatively impacted the brain’s functions. In addition, some brain areas involved in the memory process were damaged; specifically, it concerned the hippocampus.

Wearing survived thanks to the medical staff. Nevertheless, the disease left him with permanent damage in his brain, causing severe amnesia. As a result, he could not form any new memories since they were instantly forgotten.

Moreover, much of the information about his former life became unavailable.

Specialists found out that the patient’s short-term memory functioned for only several seconds. It led to the fact that he could remember nothing that happened before him, and, therefore, he felt like waking up from his nap.

Many individuals noticed the same pattern among his actions. In particular, he was introducing himself to people, talking to them, and acting surprised by every single situation he faced because everything seemed to be new to him. Moreover, he maintained personal journals.

Many times, he wrote sentences implying that he had just realized something. Within minutes, however, he struck out those sentences and wrote similar sentences once more.

The journals documented the constant resetting of his memory. Though his memories were severely lost, certain functions were preserved. Wearing was still able to play the piano exceptionally well. His doctors pointed out that procedural memory, which controls learned movements like piano playing, was spared.

The music was one thing that helped him recall his identity. Another aspect of Wearing’s life that survived despite his lack of memory was the recognition of his wife, Deborah Wearing.

Every time she came into the room, he welcomed her with emotion and excitement, acting as if he hadn’t seen her in ages. It seemed like each reunion was entirely new to him.

Neurologists analyzed Wearing’s case because it highlighted crucial differences between types of memory.

It made clear that emotions and learned movement abilities could survive severe impairment of short-term memory. Brain scans proved damage to structures responsible for memory.

Researchers still cite Wearing’s case in their studies on amnesia, consciousness, and brain function.

His case is still considered one of the most elaborate cases demonstrating the role of memory in the experience of humans.