In Retrospect: Funes the Memorious

Home , Exceptional memory, Funes the Memorious

NATURE|Vol 463|4 February 2010 OPINION

In Retrospect: Funes the Memorious When Rodrigo Quian Quiroga visited Jorge Luis Borges’s private library, he found annotated books that bear witness to the writer’s fascination for memory and neuroscience.

Funes the Memorious the many annotations that adorn his personal In the story of Funes, Borges described very by Jorge Luis Borges copies of books, it is clear that his prolific precisely the problems of distorted memory First published in book form in 1944. reading had a great impact on his works. capacities well before neuroscience caught up. For example, a copy of The Mind of Man, a We now know that memory function is linked psychology textbook by Gustav Spiller from to a particular brain area, the hippocampus, In 1944, the great Argentinean writer Jorge 1902, contains an intriguing note by Borges: which lies at the end of the neural pathway Luis Borges (1899–1986) published Funes “Memories of a lifetime, page 187.” On this page, that processes sensory information. Much of the Memorious. It is the fictional story of Spiller estimates how many memories a person this knowledge came from the study of Patient Ireneo Funes, who, after falling off his horse has from different stages in a lifetime: around H. M., who, in the 1950s, had his hippocam- and receiving a bad head injury, acquired the 100 for the first 10 years, 3,600 until 20 years, pus surgically removed to cure him of epilepsy. amazing talent — or curse — of remembering 2,000 more memories between the ages of 20 and Although he initially seemed to be normal after absolutely everything. “He knew the forms of 25, reaching about 10,000 in the first 35 years the surgery, it soon became apparent that he the clouds in the southern sky on the morning of life. He also states how much time it would had developed anterograde amnesia: he could of April 30, 1882, and he could compare them take to recall these memories. For example, one recall people and facts from before the surgery, in his memory with the veins in the marbled does not remember every detail of a long trip, but not recent events. binding of a book he had seen only once,” but instead certain landmark points — perhaps Evidence from Patient H. M. suggests that Borges relates. the moment of departure and arrival, or some the hippocampus is crucial for the formation Borges is known for his fascination with stop in between. Borges says of Funes: “Two or of new memories. In a study using electrodes mathematical and philosophical concepts, three times he had reconstructed an entire day; to probe this brain region in epileptic patients from infinity to history paths. Through he had never once erred or faltered, but each for clinical reasons, we identified a type of Funes’s story, he explores the vast labyrinths of reconstruction had itself taken an entire day.” neuron that fires in response to particular memory and the consequences of an abstract concepts (R. Quian Quiroga infinite recollection. His choice of et al. Nature 435, 1102–1107; 2005). character reveals the author’s long- For example, one neuron in a patient standing interests in psychology, fired only in recognition of different memory and neuroscience. pictures of the actress Jennifer Aniston; A quest for knowledge about Borges another responded only to images of led me to visit his widow, María another celebrity, Halle Berry. It is

F. SCIANNA/MAGNUM PHOTOS SCIANNA/MAGNUM F. Kodama, last year in Buenos Aires. thus possible that these neurons link Borges himself, she explained, had an perception and memory by creating exceptional memory. He could quote the abstract encoding we use to store passages in Spanish, English, German memories — especially considering and other languages. Borges purposely that we tend to remember concepts enriched his memory from an early and forget irrelevant details. If these age, knowing that he had a congenital neurons are lacking, the ability to disease that would eventually leave him generate abstractions may be limited, blind and unable to read. Ironically, he leading to pathologies such as autism lost his sight in 1955, the year he was or characters like Funes. appointed director of the Argentinean Even without this scientific knowl- national library, but he retained his edge, Borges’s intuitive description is interest by asking others to read to him. sharp: Funes, he wrote, was “virtually Kodama recalled that, in one of her first incapable of general, platonic meetings with the writer, he asked her ideas … His own face in the mirror, his to recite a specific passage in a book. own hands, surprised him every time To her surprise, he quickly guided her he saw them … To think is to ignore to the exact page, even though he had (or forget) differences, to generalize, been blind for many years. to abstract. In the teeming world of Characteristically modest, Borges Ireneo Funes there was nothing but considered himself more of an extraor- particulars.” ■ dinary reader than an accomplished Rodrigo Quian Quiroga is professor and writer. Kodama kindly showed me his head of bioengineering in the Department private library, hosted by the Jorge Luis of Engineering at the University of Borges International Foundation in Jorge Luis Borges wrote of a protagonist who could remember Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Buenos Aires, which she directs. From everything — including the shapes of clouds on any particular day. e-mail: [email protected]