Artist's Memory Loss Fuels Discoveries About the Brain
Lonni Sue Johnson’s amnesia is revealing important connections between memory, personality, and consciousness.
In 2007, viral encephalitis burned through the brain of Lonni Sue Johnson, a musician, amateur pilot, and successful illustrator for The New Yorker. Johnson lost most of her memories as well as the ability to make new ones. Today, she lives in what journalist Michael D. Lemonick calls The Perpetual Now, the title of his book about Johnson and the new discoveries about memory that her tragedy has made possible.
When National Geographic reached Lemonick at his office at Scientific American, in New York City, he explained why memory is so crucial to identity, how Lonni Sue Johnson fascinates neuroscientists, and why, despite her memory loss, she is filled with joy at the beauty of the world.
She was
