Those movies where someone gets hit on the head and can't remember who they are anymore? They're actually not too far off from the reality of amnesia. Learn everything about this bizarre and life-robbing condition with Josh and Chuck in this classic episode.
AI Summary
# Stuff You Should Know - Amnesia Episode Summary
Josh and Chuck dive deep into the fascinating and sometimes heartbreaking world of amnesia, exploring how memory actually works in our brains and what happens when it goes catastrophically wrong. They trace the journey from how sensory experiences become long-term memories stored in different brain regions, then examine the two main types of amnesia—neurological (caused by brain injury or disease) and dissociative (caused by severe trauma and stress)—using the haunting real-life case of Clive Wearing, a musician who wakes up every 20 seconds with no new memories. Along the way, they explain why you might black out after drinking but still walk and talk, why some people can remember everything that's ever happened to them, and how people with amnesia develop creative systems just to survive day-to-day life.
Animal House
1978
1h 49m
★ 7.0
"Harold Ramis of Groundhog Day and Stripes and Animal House and Caddyshack — Harold Ramis's filmography mentioned in tribute to the director and writer"
— Josh
Caddyshack
1980
1h 38m
★ 6.6
"and Caddyshack and Ghostbusters. And Ghostbusters. — Harold Ramis's filmography mentioned in tribute to the director and writer"
— Josh
Children of Men
2006
1h 49m
★ 7.6
"like the movie Children of Men. This program was the only one at the time — Mentioned in listener mail comparing termite colony extinction to a society without children"
Ghostbusters
1984
1h 47m
★ 7.5
"Caddyshack and Ghostbusters. And Ghostbusters. — Harold Ramis's filmography mentioned in tribute to the director and writer"
— Josh
Groundhog Day
1993
1h 41m
★ 7.6
"Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray has a tremendously excellent memory and everyone else has amnesia every day. — Discussed as a film where Bill Murray remembers each day while others forget, reverse perspective on amnesia"
— Chuck
"On the podcast Hey Dude the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor stars of the cold classic show Hey Dude — Mentioned in podcast advertisement segment as a 90s cult classic show"
"We're going to be talking to Nancy Rodriguez from Netflix's Love is Blind Season 3. — Mentioned in advertisement for Cheekies and Chill podcast episode"
Memento
2000
1h 53m
★ 8.2
"like in the movie Memento. And it had some excerpts and it was literally like 905 woke up — Referenced as an example of how Clive Wearing uses a journaling system similar to the protagonist in Memento"
— Josh
Mulholland Drive
2001
2h 27m
★ 7.8
"One of my favorites is Mulholland Drive. I don't remember amnesia being a part of that — Discussed as a film featuring amnesia where the main character Diane Selwyn couldn't remember anything"
— Chuck
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"There was original Open My Eyes, I think, was the original Spanish language film. — Referenced as the original Spanish film that Vanilla Sky was based on"
— Chuck
Stripes
1981
R
1h 46m
★ 6.6
"the great, great Harold Ramis of Groundhog Day and Stripes and Animal House — Harold Ramis's filmography mentioned in tribute to the director and writer"
— Josh
"Mary Lou Henner from Taxi. Oh did she have like an amazing memory? — Mary Lou Henner is mentioned as an actress from Taxi who has highly superior autobiographical memory"
— Chuck
"That was always one of the early Simpsons had that, I think. It showed people's thought bubbles — Referenced a scene showing Homer's thought bubble containing just a donut"
— Josh
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