Superior Auto Biographical Memory

I watched an interesting segment of '60 Minutes', the TV news magazine show that is on for an hour each Sunday. It looked at a rare condition called "superior auto biographical memory". With this the person can remember each day of your life as if it happened yesterday. They never forget their routine day, including what the wore, what they did, their feelings each day etc. Just as we can easily recite the events of yesterday, they can do the same for any day of their lives with equal imagery.

The person doesn't try to remember every day of his or her life lives. It just happens that way. But they also remember the bad things in their live too. Family members who died and everything most people don't care to remember are a s vibrant as the good memories. In their case, memory can't be quashed or selected. They remember, for example, a Tuesday in April of 1990 just as clearly as you and I remember yesterday.There were five of the auto bio memory subjects shown in the profile 60 minutes did and none was a savant, had any affliction or showed any difference in behavior to any non auto bio except for a more "ordered or ritual" way of thinking (they have neat closets, want everything in a place etc....but not in a pathological way).

A human behaviorist scientist was interviewed about this condition and related that when brain scans of these people are done they show enlargement in two areas of the brain that are associated with memory. Other than that, their brain scans are identical to any others. Speculation is as to whether they were born with those enlarged brain areas that made them capable of such memory or whether those brain areas became enlarged only after using that memory skill over time.

Replaying your life over and over again isn't the best thing to have. Thinking about your mother or father dying and having that day in your head for the rest of your life is not desirable. Yet all of the subjects say they are glad they have the ability. I wonder whether if science can break through and find what causes this could also assist in learning how to cure Alzheimer's and other diseases of the mind. Haha Just think! You would never be able to forget my comments here...