His sense is that there is variation in the group of 55. No one, including McGaugh, has studied it. The emotional effects of not being able to forget aren't clear, says McGaugh. "So it's not that they're superior learners," McGaugh says, "it's that they are very poor at forgetting." But if asked about this morning three months from now, for you it would probably be gone, while for her it's as fresh as it is for you today. If you were asked to recall what happened to you earlier this morning, you'd remember roughly the same amount as someone like Alexandra. He found ultimately that there are differences in the brains of people with HSAM, though it's not clear whether the differences are the cause or the consequence of this ability.īut it is clear that it's specifically this issue of forgetting that's different. "The emotions evoked by remembering bad things troubled her," McGaugh says.Īnd so McGaugh started studying first Price and then other people with this kind of memory. He got an email out of the blue from a woman named Jill Price who said she had a serious memory problem: She couldn't seem to forget anything, and like Alexandra, this bothered her. "It has long been believed by research scientists that forgetting is adaptive," says James McGaugh, the University of California, Irvine neurobiologist who first documented highly superior autobiographical memory.ġ3.7: Cosmos And Culture Can We Foresee The Dangers Of Messing With Memory? Scientists think there's a reason why we forget. I could, if I didn't have stuff to do all day, I could probably live in the past 24/7." "I mean, I definitely say it's a huge temptation. Over the past couple of years, she estimates, she's probably spent close to 2,000 hours reliving that one day. She says she probably takes herself through that day in her mind four times a week. She spent that day in a bathing suit by a pool laughing and playing with her 10-year-old cousin. Shots - Health News Brain Cells 'Geotag' Memories To Cache What Happened - And WhereĮven though she's only 22, she says she spends huge amounts of time in her room with her eyes closed, reliving the past in her mind, particularly this one day a decade ago. "It seems like you hold onto everything, and it seems like you're just stuck in the past all the time," she says. She blames her memory for this, saying it separates her from other people her age because they can't understand why she's so focused on things that have already happened.Īlexandra often feels frustrated with her preoccupation with the past. She has dark hair and beautifully balanced features, but hasn't really dated and seems to have few of the preoccupations of most 22-year-olds. "It's almost like time travel."īut being unable to forget can affect your relationship to the present, people with this form of memory say.Īlexandra is 22 and lives with her mother in a long brick ranch house in southern Maryland. "Right down to getting sick to my stomach or getting a headache," she says. She says she sees what she saw that day, hears what she heard, and emotionally feels what she felt at the time. All of these people can remember details about their lives that the rest of us couldn't hope to remember: the strangers they pass on the street, the first thing they saw when they woke up seven months ago.Īnd though it's not clear why the brains of people with HSAM can do what they do, what is clear is that this ability gives them an access to the past that's profoundly different from you and me.Īlexandra Wolff says she is tempted to live in the past 24/7.īut Alexandra says that remembering even an inconsequential trip to Target is an almost physical experience for her.
who have been identified with this ability. 2 she went to TGI Fridays and spoke to the hostess, who was wearing black leather flats with small bows on them.Īlexandra Wolff has what's known as highly superior autobiographical memory. 2 she stopped at Target and bought Raisin Bran and on April 17 she wore a white button-down shirt and on Oct.
She remembers those things, just as she remembers that on Aug. Later that night, sitting in her room, she spent 20 minutes scanning pictures in InStyle magazine. 21, Alexandra Wolff ate steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner. Having a perfect memory can put a strain on relationships, because every slight is remembered.
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