Hyperthymesia, or highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), has been exhibited in extremely few people worldwide and is something akin to a mental superpower.
They can readily recall precisely what happened on nearly every day of their lives.
If you ask them where they were and what they were doing at noon on August 13, 1998, for instance - or what day of the week that was - they can tell you in great detail.
Granted, anyone could make up such information. But people with HSAM can also recount news stories of a specific day - but only if they happened to read a newspaper or watch TV news at that time. Their memories are specific to their own lives - what they were doing or saying or seeing or feeling. As a consequence, they score no better than average on exams about historical events from before they were born.
The few individuals who have HSAM have never employed mnemonics. There is no trick to what or how they remember. They aren’t using memory palaces or any other known form of mental gymnastics. International memory competitions have existed for years, but no one diagnosed with hyperthymesia has participated in them.
The condition appears to occur naturally, although scientists aren’t sure if it’s genetic or acquired. Most people with HSAM can’t remember their lives before the ages of 5 to 10 years old. None of the individuals exhibit autism like Raymond, the character portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rain Man.
However, studies have shown that their brains are different from most people. The thalamus is a region of the brain associated with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). For people with HSAM, the thalamus appears larger than average. And many of the individuals are studious collectors, a hallmark trait associated with OCD.
While such depth of memory might seem like a positive trait, people with HSAM can also remember every negative emotion they ever experienced. Reliving sad or traumatic events in great detail can be unpleasant.
Among the known people with HSAM is an older man who has lived his entire life in Baltimore. Known to his researchers only by the initials MM, the clerical worker never married and at various times was homeless. After listening to a radio show about the subject in 2016, he sought out scientists and told them of his acute memory abilities. Tests showed he had hyperthymesia.
Brad Williams of Wisconsin (born 1956) has HSAM. He was the subject of a 2010 documentary called Unforgettable, and he was a contestant on Jeopardy. (He didn’t win but came in second place.)
Perhaps the most famous person with hyperthymesia is the actress Marilu Henner. She is best known as Elaine the cab driver from the 1970s TV sitcom Taxi.
Jill Price was the first person diagnosed with HSAM. She lives in California and wrote a memoir titled The Woman Who Can’t Forget.
The condition has been recognized for only a very short time in human history. There might have been - and still might be - many more people around the world with the rare memory capability.
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