She can’t remember her marriage, but can tell you how to fly a plane

She hasn’t flown a plane since 2007, when viral encephalitis destroyed her hippocampus, which is used to form new memories and retrieve old ones. And she couldn’t describe a single trip she’s ever taken. But in detail, she’ll list the steps needed to keep a plane from stalling and where to find the rudder controls. Johns Hopkins University cognitive scientists say the sharp contrasts in this patient’s memory profile — her inability to remember facts about pursuits once vital to her life as an artist, musician and amateur aviator, while clearly remembering facts relevant to performing in these domains — suggest conventional wisdom about how the brain stores knowledge is incorrect. Video Transcript [ethereal music] Graphic: Knowledge vs. Memory [Johns Hopkins logo] [researcher speaks off camera:] So now I want to ask you about your life and marriage. [somber music] Graphic: Lonni Sue Johnson used to be an accomplished artist, musician and airplane pilot. At 64, she has lost a lifetime of memories. [researcher:] Have you ever been married? Ummm. You know it’s funny, my memory about that. I think that I was for a couple of days once or something. You know, for a short time once. But my memory about that-- where is my mother? [Researcher:] That’s ok. We’ll ask her later. I think that it didn’t work out. But I could be wrong. Graphic: She has no memory of her 10-year-marriage. But she can still tell you in detail how to fly a plane or paint with watercolors. If you want to make a cloud you can just put a pool of water with edges in it. And then you could just dip the paint into it. Or another way is you could draw in lets say blue the edges of a cloud and then you could put water in that whole area and let the water suck the edges into a lovely pattern. [Researcher:] Who were you married to? I can’t-- You know that’s just out of my memory. [Researcher:] You don’t remember the person’s name? No. And I’m not even sure it’s correct that I was married. Okay. [somber music] [Johns Hopkins logo] Editing: Len Turner, Director of Video Strategy Johns Hopkins University Office of Communications video@