Henry Molaison—who was publicly known as only H.M. prior to his death—was a young man who suffered terribly from debilitating epilepsy—a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures. Having exhausted all known forms of treatment at the time, H.M. underwent a radical and highly experimental procedure, in which his doctors removed most of his hippocampus bilaterally. H.M.’s epileptic symptoms improved dramatically, but the surgery left him with a devastating memory impairment, as he lost his ability to form new memories—a condition known as anterograde amnesia. In most cases of anterograde amnesia, the patients’ declarative or explicit memory—which refers to memories that can be consciously recalled, such as facts and events—is damaged, while their non-declarative or implicit memory—which refers to learned skills and reactions that are typically retrieved unconsciously, such as writing or riding a bike—remains unaffected.

In the 2000 noir film …show more content…
worked at a sheltered work center near Hartford, where he was often asked to fetch a tool or pack a specific number of balloons into small bags; but H.M. could not remember what that number was, and he would forget which tool was needed by the time he reaches the store. He would meet and tell the same story to the same person over and over without realizing that he had told it before. Moreover, H.M. could not remember the deaths of his loved ones, making every confrontation with the fact of a long-ago passing as devastating and painful as the first. H.M. and those around him left notes and pictures as a way to remind him of things that he would otherwise forget. His supervisor at work started providing him with a picture of the tool needed, and his caretakers started leaving notes in the bathroom to remind him to raise the toilet seat. Unable to keep in mind that his father had passed away and that his mother was in a nursing home, H.M. kept a note in his wallet to help him