Some clues come from observing the way their memories evolve over time. They can be primed to remember world events that never actually occurred, for instance.Ĭlearly, there is no such thing as a “perfect” memory – their extraordinary minds are still using the same flawed tools that the rest of us rely on. And although their memories are vast, they are susceptible to some of the mistakes we all make: in 2013, Lawrence Patihis (now at the University of Southern Mississippi) and colleagues found that people with HSAM still suffer from “false memories”. “Sometimes I don’t remember what happened five minutes ago, but I can remember a detail from 22 January 2008,” explains “Bill”, who asked us not to use his full name to avoid unwanted attention. Nor are they necessarily better at remembering a round of drinks, say. Intriguingly, their memories are highly self-centred: although they can remember “autobiographical” life events in extraordinary detail, they seem to be no better than average at recalling impersonal information, such as random lists of words. During one of his visits, Veiseh’s memory proved to be so accurate that he even found himself correcting the scientists’ test about the exact date that Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It didn’t take long for magazines and documentary film-makers to cotton on to her “total recall”, and thanks to the subsequent media interest, a few dozen other subjects (including Veiseh) have since come forward and contacted the team at the University of California, Irvine. “None of us was able to recall this list,” McGaugh and his colleagues noted, but comparing her account with their own records, they found that she was absolutely accurate. In an instant, she reeled off a list of their appointments. After a few years of these sporadic studies, they decided to give her a further, spontaneous test: “Name the dates of every single time you’ve visited our lab”. Luckily, Price had also kept a diary throughout that period, allowing the researchers to verify her recollections of personal incidents too again, she was right the vast majority of the time. True to her word, she was correct almost every time. Intrigued, McGaugh invited her to his lab, and began to test her: he would give her a date and ask her to tell him about the world events on that day. Emailing the neuroscientist and memory researcher Jim McGaugh one day, she claimed that she could recall every day of her life since the age of 12. PROMPTLY CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN OR CALL 911 IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY.‘Highly superior autobiographical memory’ (or HSAM for short), first came to light in the early 2000s, with a young woman named Jill Price. You must never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment based upon any content of this newsletter. Please consult a medical professional before adopting any of the suggestions on this page. Watch this TV interview where she speaks about her experience living with the disorder and recalls everything she did on January 17 th 1974.Īll content of this newsletter is intended for general information purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. There are only 61 people worldwide who have been identified as having hyperthymesia, one of which is actress Marilu Henner, best known for her work on the show Taxi. The cause of Hyperthymesia is still unknown but some researchers believe that it is genetic while others think it may be molecular. This includes every conversation and emotion ever experienced as well as every person encountered, regardless of how insignificant or minute. This rare condition also known as highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) causes people to remember just about everything that has occurred in their life.
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