Amnesia as widely portrayed on TV and in movies is not real. TV and movies portray that people don't know who they are or have any information on their life. This just doesn't happen beyond severe brain damange, to the point where a person is barely functioning. Those rare cases people will also forget how to do basic things like caring for themselves and elementary school level education. The idea that someone is a fully functioning adult but doesn't remember their name or family is pure Hollywood.
There are two different kinds of real amnesia: The first is where you experience a blunt trauma during an event so a memory doesn't form then. You will often hear of athletes that can't remember a sporting event or an accident victim that doesn't remember the events around their car crash, etc.
The second is difficulty retaining new information long term. It is sort of like the movie "50 First Dates" though that is a of course highly fictionalized. Rather than completely forgetting where they are or that time has passed, etc, a person will have problems remembering things that you would expect to be easy. Normally this is along the lines of being unable to recall what they had for lunch only a few hours ago, or watching a movie and remembering none of the plot just a few days later. In the most extreme cases it can include forgetting where they intended to go halfway into a trip somewhere and the like. A person may entirely forget having met someone that they had a shrt convversation with, but unlike the movie they're not spending the day with someone and having no recollection of meeting them the next.
Almost all of Hollywood amnesia is total fantasy.
I had an amateur Boxing match in my early 20s. I got socked hard on the chin late in the first round, when I got to my stool I barely knew where I was or what I was doing. It's hard to explain the confusion you feel to someone who's never experienced it. You hear shouting from the crowd, you see your cornermen and coach, you hear them talking to you... but it's like they're not truly there. It's like.... you're watching yourself, disconnected from your body and the situation.
The fight went on two more rounds. Apparently, I scored a TKO near the end of the 3rd round. I only know this because, a few minutes after I won, some guy raised my hand to cheers. My ears were ringing, I was seeing stars, my chest felt like it was on fire. I have ZERO recollection of landing the punch that put my opponent down for a 10 count. The footage shows: I got hit again, pretty hard, but I immediately countered with a right uppercut. Opponent ducked into it, went down hard, couldn't stand up. I vaguely remember looking at the ref and asking "What happened?" in utter confusion. I might have taken some serious brain damage that night.
My coach and teammates were so proud of me. "You timed that uppercut perfectly, you drew him right into that trap, great job!" I'm like "Uh.. yeah.... I did that, totally got him, guy's a sucker!" The truth: I believe I was functioning almost purely on instinct at that point. Adrenaline dump, not very experienced at this point, and I took 2 or 3 hard punches to the head- on top of a pretty rough weight cut. I was primed for brain damage and short-term memory loss, and it happened.
I suffered no lingering effects from this that I know of. I may have forgotten about them.... ;)
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