Total Amnesia Baffles Neuroscientists

From the protagonist of The Bourne Identity to the hero of Iain Banks' The Bridge, fictional tales abound of people who suddenly forget their own identities. Such experiences also occur in real life.

Every so often -- usually after a traumatic experience or injury -- people become temporarily unable to identify themselves or their families, to explain where they are or how they got there. The condition is known as a dissociative fugue:

Last year a Westchester County lawyer — a 57-year-old husband and father of two, Boy Scout leader and churchgoer — left the garage near his office and disappeared. Six months later he was found living under a new name in a homeless shelter in Chicago, not knowing who he was or where he came from.

Library searches and contact with the Chicago police did not help the man. His true identity was uncovered through an anonymous tip to “America’s Most Wanted.” But when he was contacted by his family, he had no idea who they were.

When a Brain Forgets Where Memory Is [New York TImes]

Image: Cesar Astudillo