Finding Nemo

In the movie Finding Nemo, the main character, Nemo, is captured by humans while disobeying his father and going over an oceanic drop off. His father, Marlin, then commences an extended journey to reclaim his son from the Dentist’s Office tank in which he resides. Along the way, Marlin meets a fish who apparently suffers from extremely severe memory problems. The focus of this essay will be on Dory’s lack of memory capabilities in regard to the storyline.

Throughout the story, we witness Dory’s inability to form new memories, which is a characteristic trait of anterograde amnesia. In the beginning of the movie, the audience hears Dory reference the fact that her amnesia is inherent. But, research has shown that anterograde amnesia is most often caused by damage to the frontal lobes or possibly through alcohol intoxication. Those who suffer from this particular grade of amnesia are in fact, able to store information, but struggle to retrieve it in future instances. Per example, upon meeting a school of fish, they are warned to swim through a trench and not over it. Once they reach said trench, Dory states that “Something’s telling me we should swim through it.” This is a primary example of an inability to fully retrieve previously stored information.

In Dory’s particular case of Anterograde Amnesia, she struggles with an impairment of her episodic memory. Throughout the storyline, we witness Dory reading “human,” with absolutely no recollection that she knew how, or where she learned how to read it. From this it can be determined that her semantic memory remains functional, but her episodic memory does not. Upon being presented with a significant link to her previously stored memories, the text labeled “Sidney” on a boat, Dory becomes capable of remembering her journey with Marlin.

From her ability to remember past events through strong connections in the present, a possible form of treatment would be to establish a daily routine for any patient. Exposing