30 second memory

In class last week, we discussed flashbulb memory but I thought it would be interesting to look at the opposite. In the you tube link it is a BBC documentary on a Clive Wearing, a man with anterograde amnesia, which means he can only remember about 30 seconds prior to the moment. The only person he remembers is his wife and every time he sees her, it is as if they have just spent years apart. He says that just before that moment he had no consciousness, no thoughts and no emotion. One thing that I thought was off was that he never questioned the camera. Maybe this is all good editing but I would think that he would constantly look at the camera and wonder why they were there

On the cognitive end, I thought it would be interesting to contrast a "normal' cognitive effect such as a flashbulb memory to an "unusual" memory effect. Knowing the spectrum of possibilities allows for a greater understanding of cognitive memory.
Having memory of the past makes us who we are in the present. Clive barely exists in our reality because he cannot understand and hold on to so many concepts that make us a human with consciousness. Is Clive still capable of cognitive thought?

I recently watched the movie Memento in which the Hollywood version of Clive Wearing. One thing the movie brings up is the difference between the physical and the psychological with the condition. Do people who suffer from this type of amnesia suffer it for psychological reasons or is that their brain physically can’t make the memories. An earlier poster put up the video on 9/11, which showed the amygdala firings change when recalling the memory depending on the distance from the area.