Dory’s Real Short-Term Memory Loss Condition Explained

What is the short-term memory loss condition that Dory suffers from in Finding Dory? Voiced by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and brought to life by Annie Award-nominated animator Gini Cruz Santos, Dory made her big screen debut in Pixar’s 2003 hit movie Finding Nemo. A happy-go-lucky but rather forgetful regal blue tang, Dory helped clownfish Nemo’s dad Marlin rescue his captured son on an epic journey that took the two fish from their home in the Great Barrier Reef to the Australian metropolis of Sydney.

Dory might not have been the star of Finding Nemo but she certainly emerged as one of Pixar’s most popular characters – so much so that she got her very own movie with Finding Dory, over a decade later. Released in 2016, this sequel-cum-spinoff put the spotlight firmly on the forgetful fish who was joined on a quest by Marlin and Nemo that took the intrepid trio all the way across the Pacific Ocean from the Great Barrier Reef to California in search of Dory’s long-lost parents.

In Finding Nemo Dory’s short-term memory loss was played largely for laughs and – according to director Andrew Stanton – was inspired by the common but mistaken belief that goldfish only have a five-second memory span. While Dory’s condition plays a bigger role in Finding Dory as she tries to reunite with her parents, neither the original film nor the sequel really defines it beyond short-term memory loss. However, a few armchair experts have pointed out the similarities between Dory’s symptoms and a condition called anterograde amnesia.

Anterograde amnesia can be caused by an injury or disease that damages the parts of the brain responsible for forming memories. Those suffering from anterograde amnesia experience difficulty making new memories and learning new information but can retain long-term memories such as experiences from their childhood. Hence, Dory can remember things like where she used to live with her parents as a child but has trouble retaining new information like remembering Nemo’s name.

Finding Nemo and Finding Dory aren’t the only films featuring a character with short-term memory loss – in fact, it’s quite a common theme in movies. Alongside Dory, characters including Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore) in the 2004 romantic comedy 50 First Dates, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) in Christopher Nolan’s neo-noir thriller Memento and Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) in psychological horror Before I Go To Sleep have all suffered from some form of short-term memory loss too.